Soaring
by White Scribe
Summary: Talim is chosen by the wind deity to guard her lands and in so doing must take a journey beyond her understanding. This is the story of the Priestess. The story is pretty clean, but be cautious, graphic gore.
1. Default Chapter

**Disclaimer:**_ I do not own any of the ideas, characters, places, weapons and all around general things that Soul Calibur 2has created and published, etc, etc. _

Note from Author: _I must ask for a pardon before hand. I am not accustomed to writing fics. I certainly don't think I can write them at all, therefore if I, for some reason tint the way that you would see some of the characters of the game then I am very sorry. Add me to MSN and we can 'fix' the character glitches that are more than likely to appear. _

**_Whispers in the Wind_**

_The darkness grows deeper_

_The wind cries forever_

_I search through the creeping evils of this land_

_And forever more shall my tears be bland_

_Lies, bloodshed... a curse set loose from greed_

_Guardian, they call_

_Priestess, they sing_

_Protector, I be and for that I shall scream..._

_For that, I shall scream..._

-...

"Is she awake?"

"She did wake for a minute or two in the morning..."

"She hasn't wakened yet, has she...?"

"No."

"Do you think... do you think she's not going to make it?"

"She is strong, and young. The child will make it."

"She's no child, you know that. Were she not what she is she would be a wife already."

"...I will not discuss this with you. Hold your tongue, woman."

"Forgive me, husband. I spoke out of place..."

_I listened to them in silence, my head pounding. The heat of my body was scorching, yet freezing. As if the flames of a cold wind nibbled at my skin. I could feel the sweat on my brow and the aching movements of my joints. I did not wish to move, but my body was making decisions on it's own..._

_I wanted to cry, but it refused. For that I was glad... for that I was very glad. _

_The darkness grew around me, the echoes of my family's voices ringing like long forgotten memories in a dull summer breeze, hot, humid heavy with death. _

_I felt myself toss and turn in bed, all against my will. My muscles screamed in protest, the sweat made my hair stick to my face. I saw nothing, felt everything... _

_Agony, agony and pain. I shuddered uncontrolably against the raging cold that seemed to force my to my knees in worship. _

_In my mind I screamed, fought, my hands moving with the ritual blade dance of my people... _

_And I collapsed. I fell to the ground, curling up into myself inside the nothingness of the typhoon whirling like live chaos around me. I squinted through the bluish black darkness and sat a glint of something in the black. _

_It was red, it glittered like the single eye of a monster watching me with lustful, devouring eyes. _

_I gasped in fear, a pain like someone taking my heart and squeezing it ripped threw me. I had felt wounds before, but this was beyond description... beyond comprehension. _

_Dizzy, wanting death, hoping to cut my own throat, I glared through the whirling winds at the red glittering speck in the distance, cursing it. This anger I had only felt once in my life before burned through me. The wind stroked it, built it up, whispering. _

_**Protect... fight, guard...destroy, guardian, warrior, healer, priestess... your destiny holds true... you may run no longer... You are no longer wind, you are now a tornado... **_

**_Destroy it. _**

**_Destroy it. _**

_I screamed, curled up into myself again, hugging my knees, the tears pouring down my face now as I shook my head, eyes clenched tight to block out the mocking glitter of the red eye._

_"No! I don't want to go! I don't want to leave! I am no fighter! I belong here! No!"_

_The typhoon tore at my body, beating it, forcing me to look and I gazed at a face more beautiful and alive than I would ever in my life see. _

_**You will go. The choice has already been made.**_

_So, I sobbed for what seemed eternity, mourning my own loss... I didn't want to wake. It would mean such horror. I clenched at the darkness of my dream, but the winds tore my fingers from their grip and I spun into oblivion swirling through my own wishes, thoughts and emotions. _

_And I tumbled with a hard ever painful jolt into my reality, eyes wide and staring into the wood loft above my head. The faces of my family gazing down with worry, the crackle of the fire in the pit beside me. And I sobbed some more. _

_I was back... nothing would ever be the same again. _

**This is just the intro for the actual fic. Quite obviously this is Talim while she is waking from her first encounter with the shard of SoulCalibur. Please review, add me and yell at me on MSN if you like as well, lol. I will post the next chapter as soon as I finish some other ones for the three other fics I'm working on. **


	2. Fighting Through Mud

Note: Thanks, I'm glad I haven't completely killed things yet.

_Chapter One: Whispers_

The moon was up, an orb of light in the dark cloak-like sky. The stars hid behind the veil of dark cloud, winking in and out of existance as the air pushed and pulled at the masses of vapour drifting through the skies.

The winds whispered over the endless green fields. The grasses danced at their touch. Swaying to a rhythm that only one with very delicate ears and a silent heart can hear.

On top of a lonely hillsata cloaked shadow, gazing down into the moving fields. The earth seemed to sway like the sea herself in a light harbor night.

A willow stood very far off to the right, the only break in the endless pattern of the landscape. The hills rolled on and on, meeting the sky in the end, glued together by the dark masses that were the mountains.

The sheer screech of a lost hawk ripped the gentle song of the wind singing through the blades of grass.

The cloaked figure looked up sharply into the never ending black sky. The cloak fell from their head to reveal the dark hair and creamy skin of the wind priestess.

Talim gazed up towards the heaven's, her large sad eyes following the skyward trail of the lost hawk flying past the fields.

Her hair danced along with the rhythm of the soft breeze, the jewelery tied around her neck jingled softly.

"Oh, wind deity. Goddess of the very Breath of our world. Why must you break me?" she whispered softly, her eyes filling with tears.

The wind did not reply, not that she had actually expected it to. The goddess was silent at all times except when she wished to make her pressence known.

It had been a week and a half since her sickness had passed. Her body had been left weak and tired. The effect that the broken shard had had on her spirituality had ripped right through the barriers of the mental and spiritual world into reality, breaking her body the way that the shard attempted to break her mind.

The young priestess shook her head slightly, hair waving around her face. The tears sparkled by the moonlight, trickling down her face.

The choice had been made by the entire tribe. In the end the choice was hers to make, but she knew that was all an illusion. To not go would be dishonorable and cowardly. She had t go. being afraid of going disgusted her completely. Suck weakness it brought. She had always preached that to brave something you must first fear it.

But this fear was so great that even her well developed mind struggled to push it under.

Talim stood weakly, pushing hers till slightly sore joints to move. She gazed down at the movement of the grasses. The windmills spun among the shadows, moving with the music of the surroundings.

Talim closed her eyes gently and listened to the voice that still echoed in her head, helped along by the pushing of the wind all around.

_**Protect... fight, guard...destroy, guardian, warrior, healer, priestess... your destiny holds true... you may run no longer... You are no longer wind, you are now a tornado... **_

**_Destroy it. _**

**_Destroy it. _**

A tornado...

Talim opened her wide honest gaze again and looked up tot he sky.

"A tornado... am I to destroy those that stand in my way then, Deity?" a pain and fear that matched no other crossed her features.

"Am I to take life then... Deity?"

"Goodbye Priestess!"

"Good luck to you, Priestess!"

"Come back to us soon, Talim!"

"Take care of yourself daughter... come back soon."

Talim smiled and nodded, passing each familiar, and yet vague face with sad knowing eyes. Clenching hands that were so familiar, wiping the tears of young children from their cheeks and forcing a kind knowing encouraging smile.

She said nothing, in the end, but agreed with all they said, assuring them she would return when in the end...and in truth her heart said otherwise.

The sun was up, shinning like an orb of pure joy over the fields, stroking her neck gently as she walked down the worn path away from the waving and shouting voices of her village.

She sighed softly, pushing a long strand of hair from her face idly. The jewels around her neck jingled as she moved. She frowned down at them thoughtfully. Announcing her path through lands she did not know wasn't smart. She'd have to do something about those necklaces.

As she walked her elbow blades bumped her thighs quietly, a comforting yet frightening thing to bear. Those blades promised her protection and safety... but at the same time it promised the death or at least wounding of another. It was almost too much to bear, for such a peaceful Priestess.

Swallowing a knot of worry and dislike she wrapped a weak hand around the hilts, frowning slightly. _It matters not... do not worry. Life will go on... you must do as you've been instructed._

In silence and worry she continued on for several days and several nights, passing through dark wood and deep marshland, climbing over mountains and struggling through maze-like caves.

And the caves proved to be the one place to worry.

Talim had been following the shards trails for the last two weeks. The road had been harder than she had expected. The rain season hit the wind tribe lands with less force than it did in the mountains.

The forest was so thick at times that she had had to squeeze by tree trunks. And very often it was on an incline, pulling at her and the single bag she had strapped to her shoulders.

The rain had really fallen that night, as a result the young Priestess hadn't slept. She sat by the roots of an old oak tree, her back against it's strong trunk. The tree was sitting by the top of a small hill that made up the ever rising mountain she had to cross to keep up with the shards evil aura trail. It leaned gently on a vertical angle, a knuck in it's roots was where Talim had decided to take refuge from the pounding rain.

It feel down in heavy wet sheets, soaking into her clothing and making her skin slick. She had wrapped her second cloak around her elbow blades and sat with them in her arms, hunched over to keep the rain from soaking the delicate blades.

The water had long soaked her hair and it was now falling from it's ponytails in long delicate locks across her face as the wind slapped the rain into her eyes.

Her wide eyes watched as the miniature rivers of mud rushed past her down the hill, tugging and loosening the earth.

Thunder had been raging above for over an hour and each echo made her head spin. The yowling of wolves and other wild beasts fleeing the obviously approaching mudslide made her skin crawl with fear.

A sound like the very sky splitting in half made her jump to her feet. The mud slid under her boots and she tumbled to the ground, throwing her blades to the side with agility beyond her years to keep herself from stabbing herself with the weapons.

Gasping she twisted on her back and watched in horror as the oak began to collapse. The pull of the wind was so strong that the upper part was beginning to bend, but the roots were so far into the earth that it refused to let go...

The cracking continued, growing louder by each passing second.

Talim gave a cry and grabbed her blades, shoving herself to an unsteady stance. The roots suddenly slid under the earth, lashing up from under with enough force to hiss through the air like whips.

She grunted heavily and threw her weight to the side as a passing root snapped back towards it's trunk, hitting the wood with shocking force. She stared at it for a moment, her hands weak. The entire hill seemed to be slidding under her feet, all of the trees and the earth was moving like the ocean, heading down... down into the darkness.

Something snapped inside of the girl standing in the middle of all the chaos. Her eyes grew blank, lifeless for a moment.

In that second everything stood still, the woods listened to the 'twang' of her instincts snapping. The rain hovered in the air, the mud seized to slide and the wind... the wind whispered softly of things untold and things ordered...

She blinked slowly once and her eyes focused once more on the chaos. She let out a heavy breath, her eyes widening as a whole chunk of the hill dove towards the growing cliff.

A highpitched 'twang' ripped through all the other noises and a root hissed towards her at a speed she had never thought possible. Eyes narrowing, she threw herself to the right, landing like a cat on a heavy boulder still gripping it's original resting place.

The root ripped the earth where she had stood, sliding down heavily towards the cliff. She stared at it for a second through the sheets of water and looked up towards the top of the hill, watching as the river of earth, stone and wood tumbled towards her.

The thread of the shard's aura was up there... she had no choice.

She stood up, balancing on the boulder, eyes watching the passing earth with care. Giving a grunt she jumped from the boulder into the wash of the earth. The amount of earth wasn't high, only around her knees, but it was strong enough to make her tumbled slightly and gasp as she hit the ground and the earth swept over her head, muddy and sticky, sharp and rough.

Her skin screamed with the friction of the rocks, burning as she pulled herself heavily to her feet, spitting out soil and rock, coughing.

Mud stung her eyes, making them burn. She quinted through the never ending haze of water and struggled forward, her ears straining to listen.

While she moved she strapped the elbow blades to her belt, not caring that the second cloak had been lost while she tumbled around the mud.

She struggled through the mud, gasping, each breath burning in her lungs, tasting like dirt and rock. The rain had been kind enough to wash the mud from her eyes but she had been left with more water and less earth falling around her, growing more and more like a river...

Each movement made her muscles cry out in complaint, aching with the effort. Through the darkness she caught sight of something glowing in the distance, weak but there, not much higher up the mountain.

She coughed heavily, feeling her throat begin to ache as well. _I refuse to die here like an animal without reaching my destination... I refuse to die for no reason._

It seemed an eternity she spent struggling upwards, dizzy and sick,her energy was draining so fast that she had no time to even breath. And suddenly shewas upon thecliffside, looking up at a ledge above the growing riverof earth.

Swallowing blood and dirt she jumped up wards, throwing all her energy into that one leap.

She grabbed the side of the legde andhung there for a moment, wincing. With a crash the river of mud doubled in size, reaching towards her feet speedily. Groaning heavily she pulled herselfup hard, gasping.Crying out softly she fell onto the left, twisting to lie looking up into the dark sky, her chest moving up and down rapidly along with her tired pants.

The rain kept on falling, and the crash of the woodland under the little ledge was ringing in her ears. She was so tired.All of her muscles seemed tohave been used to a horrid extent.

Groaning softly she pulledherself up to her feet, unsteady still. She looked downto what had once been the hill and gasped.

There was no hill. A hugecliff side had beencut right into the mountain side, seemingly falling forever. The earth androck left the ledge she stood onas theside of the drop off.

She let out a weak breath of disbelieve at eascaping death so closely and fell back down to her knees, shivering in the rain.

The wind howled above her weak breathing, seeming hollow, like an eerie scream through the background silence of the rain. Talim frowned and looked over her shoulder, blinking in surprise to find acave behind her.

The gaping holethat was the entrance reached up high above her head, andthe darkness was deep enough so that she had no ideahow deep in it went. She looked around the ledge to find that the cave took up all the space. There was no room for her to climb higher. She couldn't possibly reach over the cave entrance either, it was just too high.

Frowning slightly she slumped down again, sick with dread. She'd have to go into that death trap... and she still hadn't figured out what the bright light in the distance had been that had led her there.

A warning bell rang in her ears dully.

It had looked simular to fire... that meant someone must be in there now too. Weakly she pulled herself up to her feet and started inside, eyes narrowed slightly with worry.

She'd have to find her way through the maze-like cave, there was no alternative.

**_Please review, I know it's not that interesting yet cuz I didn't put in any meetings between her and another character, but that's coming up next chapter. _**


	3. Listening to the Echoes

**Note: I am so sorry to those who have been reading this fic. I haven't updated in a long time. I lost the handwritten chapter to this so i had to rewrite it all. I'm going to keep updating, slowly but surely. **

_Chapter Three: Shadow Dancer_

Her breath was louder than it had ever been, echoing in her ears along with the steady drumbeat of her raging heart. The light from the moon outside had been quickly swallowed up by the darkness that seemed nearly a physical force in the air, pushing in on the Priestess on all sides.

She could hear the steady _drip drip_ of water slipping down from the frighteningly high ceiling above.

As soon as she was about three meters into the cave she could see nothing, the blackness was equal to that when she had her eyes closed. Groping the slimy wall to her right she continued on, shivering in the sudden cold. No light touched this stone, no warmth from the moon. The air was dank and heavy, completely still. There was no breeze, not even a whisper of the Wind Goddess who had ordered her to leave the safety of her village.

Angry tears appeared in her eyes. The village was now left defenseless to whatever evil force theshard came from. To Talim it felt as though she were on the right course, but that was just a guess...

In the darkness hopelessness appeared ready to spring on the wary mind of the young Priestess, praying on her courage, waiting patiently for fear to start eating at the corners of her mind.

Talim was the youngest of the wind dancers. She was the protector, when most her age were still the Protected. It was a nearly unfair way for her to live, but her talents set her apart from the beginning. A long time a go she had decided to accept it and make the best of it. She had still been a young caring emotional young woman, but the expirience of the searing evil shard had left her defensive and angry...

Despite her best efforts to stop it, the moment in time had changed her, traumatized from lack of better word.

The world had once been her friend, the Goddess a leader.

Things were no longer the same. She had never wanted to disobey the orders of Elders in the village, but the Goddess 'was' above them, no matter how much she hated to admit it.

As these thoughts passed through her young mind a new one took hold, and this was the moment that the hopelessness seemed to have waited for.

She could die on this voyage.

Fear nawed greedily at her mind, making a tight knot in her chest and her breathing speed up. She was gasping just loud enough to make the bats above shift restlessly, listening to the odd being amidst them.

Talim rubbed the bloody wound on her arm, worried. If they smelled it and decided she was worth the fight they might just decide to come after the blood trailing her arm.

Quietly she began to rip off a sleeve from her top, her fingers trembling as she refused to drift into the dark thoughts in her mind once more.

Sniffing slightly she continued walking, tightening the make shift bandage on her arm, wincing as hot pain spread up her limb to numb her shoulder.

Suddenly, at the moment when she lost her concentration her foot hit a rock, sending her tumbling to the ground, but instead she kept going and hit liquid, freezing cold liquid.

Gasping, she broke the surface, kicking frantically, gasping. Her ears rang as the echo of her splash rebounded towards her, repeating. She hadn't realized it, but she had cried out in surprise and her voice was magnified a million times over.

Wincing she scrambled to grab the side of the pool. She couldn't tell how deep the pool in which she stood went, nor how high the roof above was, but from the gut feeling in her stomach she could tell it was too deep and too high.

Scrambling, she grabbed the stone that her fingers rubbed and heaved herself back onto the slimy rocks, wincing as her arm throbbed.

She sat crouched for a moment, panting, listening as her voice and the splash of the water very slowly faded away.

Her senses were blazing with fear now, sharpened to be her alternate tools for her eyes.

She ground was cold and above she could sense the roof was very high, high enough to create a small breeze as the air moved through it. From the sound of liquid gently lapping against rock she could tell there was more than one pool around.

Rubbing her face slightly she sniffed the air, ignoring the dank heaviness of it.

And there was the key... smoke... burning wood.

A sudden light caught the corner of her eyes and she turned around sharply.  
From a sharply twisted tunel came the light of a torch of some kind, moving as the flames danced.

She couldn't see the being holding the torch, but by the sound of the heavy treads whomever it was was heavy. Bigger fighter...

She turned around quickly, searching for a hiding spot.

The image of the chamber in which she stood hit her by surprise.

The roof was so high above she couldn't see the spikes of the rock trailing down. It extended forever as well, too far for the little light to allow her eyes to see.

The ground was heavily webbed with skinny little trails of rock standing to seperate pools of dark water that glittered by the light of the flame coming her way.

Talim spun around, frightened by the hugeness of the place. Her eyes caught sight of the boulder by the side of the tunel from which the light peeked.

Swiftly she crouched down behind it, licking dry lips and settling into a deadly stillness brought on by the heavy training she had under taken long ago.

The heavy steps came closer and suddenly past by, the light reaching around the boulder to touch her. Wincing she pressed herself to the rock, crouching carefully in case she needed to get up and run.

Her hands clenched her elbow blades idly, the comfort of the heavy weapon made her heart slow down slightly.

The creature beyond made a sound, like a grunt of quizzical curiousity.

Soft sniffing followed the odd comment lacking vocabulary.

Talim's eyes widened slightly and she froze.

_It must have smelled me... only predetors have a sense of smell of that kind._

The flame stood still a little ways away from the rock, as if waiting. Talim closed her eyes for half a second, forcing her frightened mind into a calm fighting mode.

_You are a Warrior, a dancer, a Priestess, a Protector. You have all to fear and all to overcome, face it, fight it, conquer it. _

_Get up._

Slowly and with the liquid grace of a killer Talim stood up, her eyes calm and glittering by the light of the opposing fighter's flame.

Her hands were loosely holding on to the elbow blades, swinging them with the slight movement of her body.

The gruesome sight that met her eyes did nothing to her expression.

The creature was a greenish brown color, the head small for such large shoulders. A heavy bubble-like dome was pressed against his chest, glowing blue and flashing in and out of light.

He was already facing her as she stood, obviously he had known she'd be there. He had smelled the blood from her wound, had known the creature was afraid and had waited for the game to begin.

To defeat such a female would be easy, she was hardly full grown.

Talim looked back at him, her hair flying about her face as the small carress of a tiny whirlwind whispered in her ear.

**_Necrid... the creature Necrid..._**

"Let me by." Talim whispered, her voice louder than usual in the echoing chamber.

Necrid snorted. And paced in front of her in challange, a smirk plain on his horrid face, the eyes watching her emotionless, but most importantly, merciless.

Talim sighed softly, her eyes still calm. "Please."

That earned her a mocking laugh.

The creature waved a hand and there materialized a long axe-like weapon made up of nothing more than electric vibes flickering in and out of focus.

Talim looked down for a moment to collect her thoughts as her body fell into fighting stance, her hands tightening around the blades. The breeze still whispered about her, murmuring unknown words of encouragement.

For a moment there was still silence, and the torch which Necrid had at one point or another tossed aside danced across the walls, lighting up the dark scene with even darker light.

With a grunt and a sharp cry of dislike the massive creature swung the weapon over his head forcefully, shattering the stillness like glass.

Talim twirled out of the way, planting a foot firmly on the weapon and as he began to lift it up with her along jumped off, using the extra push to fling herself into the air.

His cry echoed in her ears, rebounding from the walls. The blade swiveled up and he swung it up aiming towards her.

Talim gasped and threw her weight backwards as she landed, spinning out of the way, in the same movement she threw her blades at his side, eyes narrowed into slits of concentration.

The blades met solid flesh and a splash of blood sprayed over the ground as she pulled it out and danced out of the way, just in time for his axe to miss her, shattering the rock she had been standing on before.

The wound on his side was pumping blood slowly but he didn't seem to notice it.

Talim was panting slightly with the effort of moving her wounded arm, and she was tired so the work was starting to get straining.

The wound she had inflicted was deep and the blood poured well, yet he hardly seemed to notice it.

Gasping she flung her blades up to block a heavy hit, of his blade. The force made her forearms go numb and she made a small sound of pain before kicking at his kneecap. He grunted sharply and lost his balance, in that moment she stepped out of the way sharply, driving her blades into his chest.

Her blades met metal as he flung his weapon in the way. For some reason it looked different now, though how he had changed it was not something she could understand.

With a harsh shove her threw her off balance and she stumbled backwards, giving a small jump to regain her composure.

Grunting heavily he waved the glaive over his head and swung it sideways towards her.

Talim gave a jump into the air, grunting with the effort as she twisted and landed smoothly on her feet. The glaive came crashing down, hardly giving her time to roll out of the way, gasping.

_He's moving too fast... I can't keep up! _

The butt of the glaive caught her unawares in the stomach, sending her small figure crashing to the ground. Talim cried out in sharp surprise, feeling the pain burn her torso.

Her eyes widened as the blade side of the glaive was lifted above her head.

"No!"

At the last moment she rolled on her side, flinging her blade at his leg, aiming for the tendon on holding it in place. With another splash of blood his leg buckled beneath him and he fell, grabbing the glaive and using it as for support.

Talim didn't give herself time to think before driving her two blades into his torso. She turned away as his scream bounced off the walls, burning through her ears.

_Don't look at those you kill, don't look at those you kill..._

Grunting with the effort she pulled the blades out of his body, twirling it where her instincts said his neck was.

The cry was cut short and the warm sensation of blood flung over her arms.

Choking on the knot that had builta home in her throat she turned away and began to walk towards the torch, wincing as she heard the body fall and hit the ground.

"I am but a tool and a small thread in a grand design, I do what I have to. I do what I judge to be right. Forgive me... Forgive me."

One dead. How many more were to go?


	4. Knowing Stranger

**Thanks for the reviews, guys. The last chapter was really hard to write. I didn't know which character to bring in and so on, so i just decided to wing it. Hence so many grammar mistakes. **

**Anyway, this one is gonna be a bit more intersting. I'll see how things go. **

_Chapter Four: Alone_

There was an obvious limp to her stride, and her hand was shaking as she stumbled through the caverns of rock and wet stone. The flame on the thick piece of wood seemed content to stay alive despite the humid air it had to burn, so light was no longer an obstacle.

Deciding to head through to the tunel from which the creature Necrid came she stumbled along, one hand against her stomach.

There was a throbbing pain in her middle where she knew she'd have a bruise. Maybe a rib had been broken for all she knew, the hit she had gained from Necrid's weapon had left her worse off than before.

Swallowing the thick mess of knots that had grown in her throat, shecoughed lightly, ignoring the echoes the soft sound created.

Her head was swimming and her vision wasn't working too well.

the fight had taken a lot more out of her than she had realized at that very moment.

The wind that seemed to follow her danced and twirled around her nearly in a worried manner, gently touching and carressing her cheek.

Talim stumbled and nearly fell, grabbing the side of the rock wall for balance. The sudden movement made her stomach lurch and she gasped, falling to her knees.

Suddenly she knew, she couldn't go on like this, she needed rest.

Her whole body felt like a giant bruise, the dirty clot of blood on her right shoulder was making her whole arm numb. The bruise appearing on her torso was throbbing in and out of focus, numb one moment burning acid the next.

She allowed herself to curl up into a tiny ball, with the torch dancing around beside her, sending dark shadows on the black wet walls.

Her eyes felt heavy and her heart felt tired. This was obviously the first test and her mind didn't care.

_Is this what you wanted, Goddess? Is this it? I am so tired... I've killed someone, are you happy now?_

The darkness ate steadily at the corners of her vision and soon she lost her grip on reality and time, letting her body relax into nothingness.

The Protector no longer had the stregnth to protect herself...

Unknown to the young Priestess the cave ended perhaps fifteen minutes down the tunel she had just entered, and perhaps if she had known she would have forced herself to go on.

Just outside of the cavern in the woods where the night was still in full swing and the rain falling continued it's orchestra of drops.

A cloaked figure struggled through the storm, head bowed against the rain.

The lightening above struck the tree to their right, shattering the wood to splinters. That seemed enough a signal to decide to take cover.

Looking about for a moment they caught sight of the gaping hole in the mountain wall.

Ignoring the possibility of monstrosities hiding within they slipped inside and huddled against the inner lip, not intending to go any further.

That was until the sound of someone falling and the clatter of wood against rock made them turn sharply at the twisting tunnel beyond.

There was a slight hesitation for a moment as the silence grew thick and the whisper of a flame continued to slide down from the caves dark throat.

Sighing the person started into the darkness, keeping a hand to the cave wall for support as the black grew too thick to see and the ground too rough to trust.

As he continued on, the sound of harsh heavy breathing grew louder and the sound of a dancing flame more persistent.

He stopped suddenly at the sight of light bouncing off the walls from behind the corner of heavy rock that hid whatever was breathing with such horrid trouble.

Frowning he peeked past the cave wall and blinked in surprise.

Crumbled on the floor was a pale youth, her hands limp against the rocks, eyes closed and her breathing coming in and out harshly.

The young man pulled back his hood to reveal red hair in stringy locks.

He shifted his weight idly, wondering what to do. There was a giant bruise growing steadily on the girl's stomach, and blood was starting to drench through the cloth wrapped tightly around her right arm.

He frowned slightly and walked towards her slowly, shifting his weight awkwardly. She was extremely pale at the moment, and all of her skin seemed to be coated in grime and blood.  
The blood didn't seem to be hers though. The elbow blades that lay by her side were also drenched in thick blood.

He crouched down beside her, reaching out a hand to lift the heavy locks of dark hair covering her face.

The small delicate features of someone too young to look so old glimmered at him by the light of the torch dancing it's fireywalz behind him.

He blinked slightly at her, shocked.

_How could someone so young..._

The girl heaved a loud sigh and twisted in her sleep, drops of sweat glittering on her brow.

The young man touched his palm to her forehead and drew back sharply, eyes wide.

She was burning up, and the blood from her arm was beginning to pool on the cave floor.

He stood up and shifted his weight slightly to the other foot, a small gathering of his brows expressing deep thought.

The rain outside wouldn't let him go anywhere for quite a while, it seemed to be relentlessly beating the earth, so he had time to spare for the moment, and it would haunt him if he left the girl here to die.

Which he knew would happen if he did leave.

Eyes sliding idly to the tunnel from where she seemed to come, he sighed and knelt down again, picking her up with ease. She weighed nothing.

As soon as he touched her, he felt the cold slap of wind against his cheek. He blinked and looked about sharply, eyes narrowed.

The air swam around him, hissing with life.

He stood still, watching with cold dislike and apprehension. His gaze slid back down to the young girl in his arms, considering the possibilities of a connection.

Without a word, he started away, ignoring the wind that seemed to follow, whispering with breezey tones.

The torch was quickly snatched up as he passed, though with difficulty. He juggled the girl and picked up the flame.

Silently he walked down the tunnel, looking around and listening with cool intensity at the sounds echoing around.

about five minutes from where he had started, he came to a sharp turn. The smell of blood, and the flapping of wings along with the screeches of bats was enough to make him hesitate in turning.

Carefully he put the girl down and looked past the cave lip, hesitant at first.

The sight before him was one of dark nightmares and gory memories.

There as what looked like a body on the ground, covered from head to foot in bats.

They fluttered about the cavern, screeching in high pitched voices.

Their teeth had eagerly ripped apart the vunerable skin of the body and the blood had easily heavily drenched the ground, staining the dark stone with an even darker liquid.

The young man stood by, swallowing his disgust with traine ease. He had seen worse.

Slowly he entered the danger zone with the torch ready in hand. With a sharp wave, the bats dispersed, screeching their dislike.

They left the body clear for examination. The young man winced as the crude cuts and disgusting drops of saliva came into view.

Sighing he knelt beside the corpes, looking around for a death wound.

In seconds he found the gaping cut that had split the neck open. He frowned slightly, struggling to beleive that the young girl he had just been carrying would be capable of slaying a beast the size of this great mammoth.

As he was beginning to turn away something caught his eye. The glitter of a red shard in the pool of already drying blood danced along with the flames of the torch.

He crouched once more and picked it up, ignoring the sticky sensation of the blood on his fingers.

The aura surrounding the miniature shard was enough to tell him what it was.

"...there you are."

He stood and slipped the thing into a pocket thoughtfully, eyes glittering as he turned tohead back to the girl.

This was interesting indeed...


	5. Naming Whispers

_Chapter Five:'Good' Morning_

_It was happening again..._

_The darkness was so deep, the goddess was so near, she was everywhere, whispering, this time words of comfort and of pity, as if she were frightened. _

_Talim hissed at her, angry with pain. 'Did you think that I would not be hurt? Did you think that I would not be killed! This is your fault! Your fault!'_

_The wind whispered, weakly, gently touching. It amazed Talim, despite that she was the one doing it. How could she, a mere priestess beat down a goddess? How..?_

_The answer was so close, just around the darkening corner, whispering things that she was afraid to understand._

_Then it broke, the dream shattered, and all she could see were worried green eyes..._

The girl cried out, pushing him away sharply, scrambling backwards, though weakly.

He pulled back slowly, determined to make sure he didn't scare her anymore, she might rip open the healing wound in her arm if he did.

"It's all right... I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you." he stated, lifting his hands up in peace.

She was on the other side of the cave, her back pressed agains the rough stone, gasping for breath, large eyes fixed on him.

_Who...? Who is he?_

_**Yun Sung**._

Talim let out a soft sigh, pondering the thoughts entering her mind. "...Yun Sung..." she whispered, eyes narowed.

The young man froze, his own gaze turning cold. "What did you just say?"

Talim drew back a bit more, hearing the slight tone in his voice that made her skin prick up. Her eyes searched the cave, looking for her blades, which she had realized weren't strapped to her belt anymore.

He stood and advanced towards her. "How do you know that name?' he snapped, reaching for her arm.

_No._

With a sharp cry she kicked up, hitting him in the stomach. he fell back, caught his balance and drew his sword, one she had not noticed hung from his side.

"What do you want?' she whispered, panting for breath. at some point she had scrambled to her feet and was now standing in fighting position, her fists clenched.

_Where are my blades...where?_

_**Behind.**_

"I'm trying to 'help' you actually, you hot headed little-" He started, then gasped and dove towards her as she grabbed her blades.

With a grunt, Talim side stepped out of the way, grabbing her hilts and falling once more into fighting stance.

"You... help me? But..." she began, then gasped and blocked a sharp swing from his blade, her arm shuddering with the pain.

"How do you know my name?" he snapped back, pressing down on her.

Talim groaned softly, holding the blade there with all her strength... which wasn't much at the moment.

"...what are you talking about?" she whimpered, biting her lip.

"My name! My name is Yun Sung, how do you know it?' he snapped, and shoved her away.

She stumbled, regained her balance and backed up slowly, frowning.

"Your name..? But... I didn't know..." she replied, feeling dizzy.

Yun Sung froze, and frowned, watching her drop her blades and crumbled to the hard ground.

"What do you mean you didn't know?" he asked, a bit quieter, letting his blade lower, annoyed.

This petulant girl was more trouble than he had figured. He rubbed his shoulder where she had kicked him away.

She was painful too.

"I didn't know it was your name." she stated, gasping for breath, rubbing her face tiredly.

He stared and then stuffed his sword into his sheath, frowning. "That's rather unbelieveable." he stated.

"That's the only truth I know." she retorted, leaning against the wall.

Perhaps she had lost memory? Or he had? Had he seen her around somewhere? At the dojo maybe? She was trained... it was a possibility.

He frowned. No. That couldn't be it. She was younger than he was he'd probably have seen her about the dojo... and he'd remember her too. It wasn't often a younger, weaker fighter was able to keep him off, let alone a girl and in her condition.

He frowned. Who in the world was she?

"What's your name?" he snapped, still feeling a bit testy. She looked up at him again after examining her arm. "... I am Talim." she murmured.

He frowned, the name ringing no bells what so ever. She was dressed oddly... what was she?

"You're a strange warrior, where did you train?" he snapped, not moving towards her still.

She pushed herself to her feet, grunting softly at the effort. The fear of finding him near had made her jump away, but now she was tired. He wasn't a huge threat, he just seemed angry at her for attacking

She didn't really blame him.

"I trained at my village." she murmured. He opened his mouth to ask something else, but for some reason Talim didn't want to answer that.

"I'm sorry about kicking you." she put in quickly, cradling her arm.

He blinked, then frowned.

"All right..." he replied, though ruffly, as if he weren't sure of what to say to something like that.

She bowed shortly, in respect and bent to pick up her blades, wincing at the strain in her torso.

He watched her and was picking them up for her in seconds, annoyed with himself for it. Quickly he handed it to her. She hardly had enough time to grab them before they fell again, blinking.

"You broke a rib. Did that monster whack you with his fist or something?" he asked, brows furrowed as he walked over to pick up his cloak.

Talim carefully strapped her blades to her belt, moving slowly. "Um... no... he used a weapon." she muttered. "A full legnth axe, if I recall." she mumbled, looking up at him again, her blades hanging by her sides.

"What weapon?" he snapped, turning to look at her. Talim sighed softly, feeling a sharp splinter of irritation in her mind that did not often make itself known.

"An axe, i said." she repeated. Yun Sung shook his head. "What are you talking about? I didn't seen any by the body." he stated.

The young priestess rubbed her face, annoyed by his tone of voice and cocky self rightous way he seemed to be directing himself towards her.

"It... was some kind of orb, it transformed once or twice during the battle, and when i slayed him it vanished." she replied, her voice wary and tired.

Yun Sung heard it and frowned, picking up the torch. Talim looked up sharply, as her source of light was moved.

"What are you doing?" she asked, blinking.

He started to walk away, heaving a light pack over his shoulder.

She gasped softly and pushed herself to her feet, scrambling to catch up.

"Where are you going?' she enquired, falling into step beside him His eyes flickered to her quickly as if simply acknowledging her pressence. "Out of here." he stated.

Talim blinked at him and stopped walking. "But... there's a storm out there, it nearly killed me. It took the mountain from under my feet." she insisted, attempting to keep him from going out into what she was sure would be unneccesary danger.

At this Yun Sung only scoffed softly and ignored her again. She ran after him, wincing at each step. "I'm serious. Please, listen to me."

He glared at her momentarily, pulling the hood o fhis cloak over his head.

"You've been out of it for five days now. The storm ended the day before yesterday. All that is left are high winds and the wrecked remains of the woodland." He snapped, giving her a little shove into the open.

Talim stumbled and froze, as if cought like a deer in the headlights.

The cave ended at a sudden drop off, not the one she had been left on to enter the cave though.

It continued all around, leaving only a miniature pathway to her left.

The winds were blowing like all of the Goddess was crying out, making her clothes swirl around her, her hair dancing to the rhythm of the breeze.

Talim stared in awe to the rising sun, which could now be seen past the catastrophe that as the crumpled field of trees and rolling hills which used to be the forest.

"Oh... Goddess, your Cousins were angry indeed." she whimpered, putting a hand to her mouth in slight horror.

All that had been the woodland, the mountains, it was completely nothing, as if the territory was recreated.

"I am lost..." she whispred, licking dry cracked lips in vain.

The sound of a stone falling into the dark abyss of the cliff made her turn to look at Yun Sung, who was carefully making his way down the mountain by way of the four foot ledge surrounding it like a staircase.

The young Priestess gasped softly and walked over to the beginning of the path.

"Where are you going?" she cried, a bit distressed.

Yun Sung glanced over his shoulder at her, frowning. "My own way."

She stared after him, wincing. "But... what about me?"

He glared. "What about you? You were climbing these mountains on your own before i came along. You'll find your way." he snapped.

The wind hurled the words at her, hissing and dancing as she watched him turn a sharp corner and disappear.

She sighed, hanging her head, stuffing a hand in her pocket. Anger she was growing accustomed to grew in her chest.

_Damn you, Damn you and your so called destiny of mine..._

The wind whispered in her ear, making her hair dance around, wary, as if trying to make amends.

Something small and hard bumped into her hand. Talim frowned slightly and pulled it out, to find the red shard of something...

_The evil..._

She stared at it with wide eyes, examining it. A faint mental tug made her blink. It was like a persistant thought you simply couldn't remember making her irritable.

the tug came again, harder. SHe frowned, turning the piece over and over in her hand, rubbing it with her thumb.

**_Use it._**

She frowned, hearing that soft voice in her head. The same that had whispered Yun Sung's name.

_How?_

**_Concentrate. _**

The young Priestess frowned slightly and finally closed her eyes concentrating on the simple existance of the shard.

Her eyes saw darkness, all was dark, then...

A string, a red string It was ahead... it turned, twisted, rushing downwards. Something was coming up, distand... It was a person... it was a man... no... it was...

"Yun Sung." Talim breathed.

The red string led to his pack and inside glittered a red shard, just like the one she was holding.

Her eyes nspaped open and she ran, ran down the path, ignoring her dry throat, worn muscles, painful arm, throbbing torso and deep hunger... gasping she sprinted, her blades bumping her side.

_How... how did her get a shard? Does he know what it is? Does he know what it means...?_

She turned sharply, nearly slipping off the edge. Her eyes flickered to the fall a long ways below and she could do nothing but gasp, and keep going, her footsteps rhythmic, like the breeze .

_I have to figure this out... I have to._

**NOTE: There is the next chapter in an all too complicated fic. I just want you guys to know that I have no idea what I'm doing. None. I have the game and I've played it and I have a very vague understanding of the plot. The story I am writing has no plot as far as I know. I haven't any clue where any of this is leading. **

**Anyway, enough excuses. **

**To Veronica: Heh, about time I answered your reviews, huh? Thanks for reading and your reviews, it keeps me going. And no, I don't plan on making Raphael evil, He's unfortunately not the next character coming up though. Sorry.**

**To DilaZirk: Um... yeah, character deaths. That was a lack of action. I had no idea what i was doing so I just decided, what the heck, let's make a battle. Necrid was the last character i had played on the game and he kicked my butt, so I kicked him around in my mind... and killed him... yeah... insanity...**

**To Animefan113: Gee... thanks. I don't particularly think that I'm too great at fanfics either, so... we're in the same boat, i guess.**


	6. Bothersome or Not

_Chapter Six:Bothersome or Not_

Footsteps thumped steadly behind him and all he could do was close his eyes in an effort to keep his temper in check.

That troublsome girl was persistant, that was for certain, and her capability to annoy grew with such a gift.

Yunsung turnd to look behind him, catching a glimpes of her literally sprinting in his direction, her speed knociking the air out of him. The recklessness of it was the more surprising factor.

"By what witless choice and illogical energy can she do soemting like taht..." h whispered, blinking in steady shock.

Stubborness bloomed to life in his midn and he turned away, his brow growing dark with irritation as he started away.

He would not bother with such foolishness. If she could fight him off and then chase after him then she had enough stregnth to keep hersel falive on her own.

Despite it, the splinter of uncontrolable curiosity still lingered in his mind, and he wondered though briefly, how she had known his name. The thought though was quickly pushed aside and he continued to make his way along the dangerous cliff ignoring the incoming nuiseance heading his way.

"Wait!" Talim calle,d her partched throat complaining colorfully as she strained her voice. The young man ahead ignored her, but she wasn't particularly unsettled by this show of indifference. He didn't see to have taken a liking to her.

Gasping, she caught up to him, her whole body feeling much like an aching throbbing bruise.

"That shard, in your pack. Where did you get it?" she whispered through the steady panting making her limp along beside his steady pace.

He, however froze at her words and turned slowly to look at her, brown green eyes narrowd suspiciously.

Talim stopped, facing him, too tired to care to even acknowledge the steady threat he seemed to want to pose.

Idly she wiped blood from her ripped lip and pressed her hand against the blooming blue bruise spreading across her torsos. It seemed, her rib or several of them had been shattered.

"how do you know I have that?" he snapped, simply aware of how much of a surprise it was that she could walk, though deadly determined not to show it.

"I... saw it as you left..." she mumbled, before she coudl actually think of an answer. It took a moment for her to realize she had actually replied.

Yunsung however was having a silent fit. "You 'saw'?" he stated, through clenched teeth.

Talim looked up at him, extremely large eyes midly confused. "I... Well... yes, that's... actually no, that's not what i meant-" she began, working stubbornly to explain, despite her vision growing hazy.

He glared death at her silently, fuming while trying to understand what she mean.

Sighing, she let herself tumble and fall tot he ground, letting out a small whimper of pain that spread from her torso to her arm.

Yungsung's steadily growning rage shrunk to simple irritation as he ralized her troubles.

Rolling his eyes he crouched down beside her, muttering random complaints.

_She's going to pass out again, then what am i going to do?_

Quietly, Talim let out a hardly audible sigh and did as he had thought.

Catching her out of reflext, the young warrior allowed himself and irritable groan.

"Curse it all."

Sighing heavily, he slipped an arm under her knees and lifted her up easily, a frown clearly stating how much against his better judgement this sudden event was.

But of course... Only a Goddess would know better.

Several hours later, he had passed through the destroyed woodland, carrying the unconcious worn Priestess on his back, her thin arms loosely draped over his shoulders.

Though she weighed little, she was still enough to slow him down and though he was over all a 'good' guy it was still tempting to simply put her down and forget about her. He could after all be heading in the opposite direction of her travels.

This of course was a weak excuse for it seemed she too was interested in the shards of Soul Edge. He had found, not long into his long trek through the desolate woods, a small red shard clenched in her small hand. One very simular to the one he had and sparkling just as evilly.

Theses thoughts flashed through his mind as evening drew closer and the desolance of the destroyed land began to fade away, and he found himself once more in full flourishing forests.

A glance at the setting sun was all he needed to set the sleeping girl on a moss covered patch of ground and loo about curiously, examining his surroundings.

The woods were very much like a mix of jungle-like european woodland. The soft calls of birds and big leafed plants spotted the are colorfully. Roots, grasses, flowers and mosses were blossoming steadily all around, crawling around the trunks of thick trees, two men wide and beyond.

Yungsung sighed softly, deciding it was a safe spot as any Before reaching up and stretching his worn muscles.

He studied the girl in silence, as he stretched, slightly disturbed by how long she had been sleeping. He'd figured that she would wake soon because of the lack of food she had had for the last four days.

her skin was pale under theg rime and blood, and she looked sick, her she was sleeping soundly.

He could't decide if that was a bad thing or a good thing.

Letting out a hardly audible sigh he stood up smoothly, glad to feel his muscles stretched and no longer aching.

his brown eyes carefully scanned the surrounding woodland, brows furrowed in thought.

Night was creeping steadily and though he felt he needed rest, had the girl not been with him he could have kept going well into the night.

But, she 'was' with him and she needed heat as well as warm food.

Yunsung closed his eyes momentarily. _Oh so now i'm going to cook?_

Grudgidly he stood and began to gather fire wood. And the trees could only thank thes tars for being awarded a lack of ears, for had they heard what poured for his mouth they would have been throughly depressed.

Perhaps it was the heat, or the smell of food... or the whisper of an apologetic whimpering breeze that coaxed her gently back to reality.

But, Talim couldn't help but wonder why, when she woke she saw him frowning in her direction. A heavy tidal wave of dark grdgy energy crashed towards her, as steady as the waves.

Such a wake up call is hard to understand let alone recover from.

The priestess pushed hersel fup slowly to her elbow, wincing at the complaint of her muscles and ribs, the grit that clung to her skine and her suffocating dirt clogged pores.

Yunsung didn't bother looking away, but continued to frown steadily at her.

He was couched across from a flame happy fire. The shadows of the woods and thick powerful trunks surrounded him like a frame.

It was not a welcoming scene.

"You're awake." he stated after finding her innocent brown eyes unaffected by his cold glare.

Talim foudn herself tempte dto be sarcasting, but bit her tongue carefully, disappointed in her self control.

"...yes." she finally managed, her throat raspy. It hurt. She winced and looked away.

Yunsung's frown deepened. Giving a dislikeable grunt he reached into thed hadows behind him and threw a skin flask in her direction. The girl caught it without even bother to look at the in coming thing.

The dojo trained warrior found himself frowning again disturbed by her expirience and ability, though for some reason he couldn't figure why.

"Thank you." Talim muttered, unaware of ruffling up the young man's ego. Without looking at him she threw her head back and drank deeply, her sore aching throat thankful for the liquid.

The water aroused the sleeping hunger within her and soon a dull pain nawed at her middle.

Breating heavily, she put the water down and looked around. Yunsung nodded towards a small packet of leafs near her.

"You should eat."

Without bothering to object she took the food and began to eat the rice and cooked fish, chewing with haste but forced control.

Too sick and dizzy was she at the moment to realize he had been staring at her until she finished. The comfortable feeling of a full stomach however made her other senses perk up.

"I don't understand you." he claimed slowly, hist one of voice almost accusatory.

Talim stopped in the middle of wiping her mouth with her wrist, blinking midly at him. Giving a worn sigh she frowned slightly.

"I don't see a lot of reasons why you should." she admitted, settling down with her legs crossed in lotus position.

he scoffed.

"Other than my saving your life?"

Talim cocked her head, frowning thoughtuflly. "I don't know how i knew your name." she returned.

Yunsung allowed himself the grace of looking insulted. "What is that supposed to mean?"

"i'm not after you."

"Why shouldi care if you're after me?"

Talim blinked at him. "I fgured that's what bothered you so much about me."

He shook his head firmly. "Not that."

This was puzzling, if not vexing. "Then what?"

"The fact that you know so much and yet seem incapable of caring for yourself." he retorted a note of disgust in his voice.

The priestess shrunk, not exactly put down, but defensive. "I beg your pardon?"

"You're too... uptight to be a good fighter." he stated., yet again witha tone of superiority.

Talim frowned, a lodged complaing of dislike beginning to bring memeories of their last chat back.

A branch broke behind him and he looked back sharply, only to watch an owl jump to another tree.

The priestess foudn herself cocking an eyebrw at him in slight disbelieve. "And that accusation coming from you?"

Yunsung scowled. "Was that an insult?"

"An insult is only an insult when the insulted wishes it ot be." Talim replied calmly, her posture growning straighter.

He sulked openly, throwing a branch into the fire. "Philosophical nonsense." he grumbled.

Talim actually smiled at that. "Oh indeed..."

Rolling his eyes he waved a hand at her. "Sleep. The morning is coming. Once the sun is up you should go to the river to bathe those wounds." he muttered, changing the subject.

Frowning she looked to her arm and worn body sighing. "ALl right."

Without another word, she lay down and slept.

**There's the next chapter. I'm so sorry for not updating sooner, i promise i will try my best, but things are rather tight in my schedule of late. **

**To Keigojin: Thanks for putting this in your faves. I don't have any actual plans to make 'em end up together, but I think that seems to be where this is going... though next chapter you might be a bit surprised at what happens. (foreshadowing, mwuahaha)**

**Veronica: Yeah, not evil Raphael, but it's gonna be a while before he comes along. Talim has to end up somewhere in Spain... somehow, beats me how. **


	7. Youngling Only Not

_I am sorry that I took so long to update on this fic... but i simply could not find the hand written chapters. It turns out the reason i couldn't find it is cuz I typed up half of the chapter and posted it as a whole last time, so I was left with the ending half of it, somewhere hidden among the piles and piles of paper in my room (i am not kidding, there litterally are PILES of paper.)_

_It took me a long two hours to find it. Anyway, here it is. _

_Youngling Only Not_

Morning came, just as Yung Seung had said. A ray of clean sunlight leaked through the heavy canopy of trees and struck her squarely in the face, making her tired eyes flicker open, jamming strobes of both light an pain into her head.

Groaning soflty, she rolled onto her feet, holding a hand to her head. Yung Seung slept soundly on the other side of the fire, his sword laying just in reach.

_He seems paranoid..._ The priestess decided, unaware of touching her belt to reassure herself of her own blades.

Heaving a soft sigh, she looked about the quiet wood. the dew had settled amongst all things, making the world seem as though covered in a glass glaze.

Smiling, she listened to the idle sound of flowing water and glancing once more in Yung Seung's general direction, she walked away.

It was only about a five minute walk when she came upon the rocky banks of a giant river roaring with power. It's white foamy waters crashing with energy and majesty.

Grinning, she scrambled down the inclined bank to the rock covered side, near the slow waters, lapping the shore.

Carefully she looked about and began to remove the gold ornaments hanging in heavy clusters around her neck. After pulling her stocking and shoes off she looked around again and began to wade into the icy waters, biting her lip at it's cold touch.

Sighing, she sank under her fingers running through her thick sticky locks of hair.

The water, though cold gently cleaned the blood and grime fro her skin, letting her pores breath again.

As she moved towards the faster flowing water, the preassure gently knead her sore muscles, relaxing her into a quiet calm silence.

Smiling again, she pulled the outer layer of her top over her head and off and began to scrub the dirt away, frowning at it with dislike.

Under the top she had a white tank, which was relatively clean and was staying on, no matter how secluded the river was.

After rubbing the dirt off her clothes she began to scrub herself, washing her face with determination to feel less irritable.

After about half an hour, she sat idly on a nearby rock and let the sun dry off her outer clothes, it's hot rays stroking.

The bath had served both her failing steem and wounded body. She was now pale, her skin as smooth as ivory, large brown eyes rimmed not by grime, but long dark lashes and her smooth dark hair pulled back from her face in two careful braids.

Her senses were feeling so much more adjusted and energized that she actually heard him coming, long before he actually got there.

Turning she watched Yung Seung silently appear on a rock behind her, standing with his sword on his shoulder comfortably. What was most surprising was the look on his face.

Talim didn't get up, but blinked back at him, hugging her knees to her chest idly.

"By fate... you're young." he muttered, staring.

She frowned slightly, wondering if that was a good thing. "I'm 15 if that's what you mean.' she admitted.

He let out a gasp. "Three years younger- curse it..."

She narrowed her gaze at him in warning, confusion not being her preffered state of mind. "What?"

"How long have you been training?' he snapped.

Talim seethed in silence and stood smoothly, walking over to her discarded outer clothes and pulled them on over her white ones.

Yung Seung scowled. "I asked you a question."

"You've yet to answer mine." Talim replied shortly. She wasn't one to hav ea temper, nor one to pick a fight, but simply being around him was annoying...even to her.

He stared in slight shock. Talim ignored him and picked up her blades, strapping them to her belt.

Finally she tured to face him. Very young, and very ready.

"I thank you for helping me, but now I must go my own way. I need my shard back." she murmured, not even bothering to find how he had come to a piece of it himself.

he scowled and stepped off the boulder in front of her. "I'm not giving it back."

Talim blinked at him and extended her hand. "I need that shard, it's what will lead me on my way." she insisted quietly, her voice steady, her eyes pleading.He looked at her calmly and shook his head. "no."

Closing her eyes she stepped back, hands laying on her hilts. Yung Seung found himself taking a half step back, his sword comng to his side. "Don't do it." he warned, watching her fall into fighting stance

She took her blades and brought her firsts up smoothly, shaking her head, a worried frown on her face.

"Please, I need that shard." her voice was now pleading, but Yung Seung wouldn't have it.

"No."

"I am sorry." she whispered, her eyes sad. "Please... try to understand."

Then hell broke loose.

* * *

(A/N: Hehe, just thought I'd take a break for a second to let you guys know that this was supposed to be where I left off for the 'last' chapter... i cliffhanger, i guess, but noooo, i didn't type it all up so I couldn't. However, I DO have the rest of it now... So, I'll be a nice person and continue. Which sucks, cuz i wish i could leave it as it is... agh, never mind. I'll keep going. Psh. I'm too nice...)

* * *

The clash was enourmous, making her ears throb. Grunting heavily, she shoved him away, sidestepping out of the way to avoid the heavy blade that crashed into the ground where she stood.

yung Seung cursed and kicked her squarely in the stomach, throwing her to the nearby tree. With a clatter, the priestess dropped her blades and crumbled against the rough bark of the weathered trunk.

The air was knocked out of her lungs. Trails of throbbing pain worked their way around her torso. the pain was enough to make her cry out, crumbling to the ground.

Yung Seung walked towards her slowly, panting, a dark look crossing his face.

"what are you?" he asked, slipping his sword under her chin.

Talimg sat, gasping. The cold steel bit softly into her flesh.

The voice returned whispering urgently.

**Don't let him... He is nothing. You need to solve this mystery. Get the shards and run.**

Talim sighed softly, worn. _All right._

Her fist clenched around her blade and she screamed, knocking the sword away, her whole body launched itself at him, knocking him off balance and to the ground.

with a cry, Yung Seung rolled out of the way, avoiding her blades. they shattered the rocks, digging into the ground.

Gasping, he pulled himself to his feet and kicked, before talim could pull her weapons from the ground.

Eyes flaming with concentratio, she blocked the blow with her bare arm, ignoring the dull throbbing. With a grunt, she grabbed her sunker hilt for stability and kicked him squarely in the face, sending him backwards again.

Groaning with the effort she ripped the blade from the ground, twirling it as she advanced towards her opponent.

Yung Seung blocked her quick blows, his head pounding. Her last kick had connected with the soft tissue on the side of his head, making the colors swirl and her face seem distant.

Talim, on the other hand, was fighting with cold indifference, her senses blazing with feriocity and superiority.

She knocked his sword aside and threw her shoulder against him hard, sending him flat on his back as a result.

Smoothly, she came down upon him, her blade sinking into the ground inches from his neck.

Her other blade twirled, sparkling in the morning light and stopped on his neck, cold and ruthless.

her eyes however were flaming at first, intense with power and violence. As they held still, in the silence of the wood, listening only to the trickling of the water and their haggard coarse breathing, she lorst her fire and her eyes grew pleading. Once more she was young and innocent.

"Please, just give me the shard." she whispered, her voice wavering slightly. Her blade however, did not.

Yung Seung stared at his confusing girl who had appeared out of nowhere and could become a supreme fighter or a lost child within seconds...

"I can't." he replied quietly, eyes stubborn. "My country depends on me."

Talim let out a disappointed breath, eyes narrowing with irritation. _He doesn't understand...more than a country is at risk. The world itself will succumb to this evil..._

She sighed, and looked at him long and hard. "I cannot let you go then." she murmured. The blade pressed harder against his throat, the threat obvious.

Yung Seung swallowed hard, seeing true will in her eyes.

"Go ahead and kill me then." he retorted, daring, eyes still determined and stubborn.

Talim shook he rhead slowly at him, leaning in close so he could feel her soft sweet breath on his face and see her dark hurt gaze.

What he did see scared him...

The breath was knocked from within him, a deep shocking knowing being peered at him from those eyes, something equally young as old, and equally sweet as deadly. This girl knew all... and yet knew nothing.

"What-" he gasped softly.

With a grunt, Talim pulled the blade from the ground and hit him hard on the head with the hilt.

He fell falt, eyes closed.

Sniffing softly, she pulled herself to her feet, looking down at his limp form with mixed feelings.

Twirling her blades, she turned away and started back to their miniature campsite. Other than a lump and a headache, he'd be fine. A life for a life was only fair.

A welling of tears appeared in her eyes at the simple thought. Once before the Goddess had swept her away she had valued life, not caring for it's past... but now.

Now only fairness ruled her. Mercy was forgotten.

"Oh... how I loathe you, Goddess."

* * *

_So, there it is, I shall post soon after, now that summer is on, I have a lot more time. _

_Ellie- I typo because, as you know, I have a good 100 or so other things to do during the day. Excuse me if I don't read something I already know. ((stick tongue out at you)) psh. if ya want, you can edit it and send it to me and I'll update it as edited by Ellie, all righty?_

_Please R&R.Excuse all the typos, I was typing it up rather fast, cuz I have to update ALL my fics... OO scary. anyway, yeah... thanks for reading, please review. _

_-White Scribe._


	8. Deadly Healer

_I'd like to warn anyone reading that there is a dream in here that is rated T for violence, I'm not sure if it's as bad as I seem to think, but I know I'd never let my little siblings read it and they're ten and 11 so... yeah. Just a warning too, it does have a refference to rape. _

_Deadly Healer_

To Talim's surprise, the days went by steadily and Yung Seung did not appear in her path, nor did his footsteps haunt her travels. It seemed he had decided she was simply too much of a bother to chase.

She had left behind the shard he had had originally, deciding it best to at least leave him with some form of guidance.

The voice had said it, assuring her it was all right. You need not collect the shards in order to find the source, all you needed was one.

However that left Talim with the lingering problem that perhaps Yung Seung would find her, just because he too was following the shards directions.

Though, these thoughts grew fewer in number over the days, and her worries more basic. Solitude can make a heart either colder or softer... In Talim's case, the silence and company of the woodland was all she needed.

Long ago the bruises on her skin had healed, and the scratches inflicted by both Necrid's weapon and Yung Seung's sword, which she hadn't realized were there until after the battle, had healed over and left nothing but light scars.

Her ribs, although, were not doing so great...

The priestess stopped for the third time in the last hour, gasping, a hand on her stomach, the other on the nearby trunk of a large tree in order to stay standing.

The pain steadily clawing at her torso was beginning to get unbareable... She didn't understand how she had faught off Yung Seung with such a wound. After several days of constant pain she had finally inspected her own torso and found that she had indeed shattered two ribs, though it was a possibility that one had simply been fractured at first then shattered during her fight with the young warrior...

Groaning she lowered herself to the moss covered ground and sat there, panting with the effort of breathing.

_This is ridiculous... I cannot go on like this, my body simply won't allow it..._

And as always, when she was alone and thinking rapidly of her struggles the wind would pick up, whispering around her, worried like a mother.

Talim had grown used to it's appearance, knowing well who it was and why they were there. However, that did not change her cold dislike of it. She pretended as though the pressence was not there, unless orders or instructions were given... and those times were coming less and less.

Coldly, the Priestess flicked her wrist, as if shoving some unknown thing away from her face, though all that there was was the soft whisper of a breeze, carressing her cheek.

She lay her head back against the tree trunk, ignoring the waves of air dancing all around her.

_What am I going to do? I can't even walk anymore, if I do I think I might pass out..._

**_It's okay..._**

Talim sat up sharply, eyes narrowed at the voice who had not spoken for several days now... perhaps even a week.

**_I can help._**

_I don't want your help!_

Anger erupted within her, exploding in her chest in a nearly painful manner. She hated it, hated the fact that she was nearly a puppet in the hands of some great being who thought she was supposed to follow orders...

Tears of pain and vexation welled in her eyes and she lay back again, listening to the silence, ignoring the still lingering breeze.

**_I must help._**

The voice came back abruptly, making her sit up again, looking around at the dancing leafs but the otherwise empty woods.

_Leave me alone... I'm doing what you want, what more do you need me to do? _

**_Trust me. _**The voice said, as if ignoring her earlier comment. Talim's thoughts had hardly enough time to pull themselves together when the wind picked up, a tiny swirl of air beginning at her feet.

She frowned, staring at it, as it grew stronger, pulling at twigs and the branches of the trees.

Her breathing sped up slightly as she listened to the jingle of her jewellery moving along with the wind.

The miniature typhoon twirled like a dancer before her, discarding all mass other than air, throwing both rocks, and branches in all directions, as if cleansing itself.

The young priestess grunted softly, eyes wide and defensive as she pushed herself against the tree trunk in an attempt to stay back.

_Wha- What are you doing!_

**_Trust me._**

It happened too fast for her to realize. The typhoon crashed into her, ripping the scream right out of her throat, throwing it up for all the woodland to hear.

Instinctively, the Priestess threw her arms around her head, gasping for air that was being pulled away from her by the swirling speed of the wind dancer before her.

With power she hadn't known was coming, she was lifted roughly off the ground and thrown forcefully against the tree trunk she had currently been resting against.

Pain of all kinds seemed to jump to attention along her body, forcing itself out as if by her scream.

The wind was so loud though, that nothing, not even her cry of pain reached her own ears over it's loud constant whispers, driving her mad.

The pain was spreading from her back to her torso and legs, burning. It was soon too much for her to hold on... and the darkness ate at the corners of her vision, blocking out the canopy of trees high above, leaving her in total blissful shadow...

* * *

_The sun was setting in the distance, lowering into the waters of the harbour a long long ways away from the endless fields of grass spreading to the mountain side. _

_The haunting tune of children singing rode on the breeze, whispering. _

_A crow lifted offthe chinese maple tree that had for some unknown reason grown in the field, standing like a proud lord over the grass lands. _

_The bird's eerie 'caw' of dislike rode the breeze along with the whispering song of children's voices...laughing, crying...singing, screaming..._

_Talim stood on her hill, her blades bumping at her sides along with the rhythm of the haunting melody...and the breeze. She looked out over the grasslands at her people, working, laughing, living... Her mother stood by, laughing as children from the village rolled and tumbled down the grassy hill._

_The Priestess stood silently by, feeling a knot of homesickness tug at her throat. _

_The haunting melody continued over the air, growing louder as the sun sunk deeper into the sea. _

_She heard it then, the sound that made her memory start as if jolted awake by an electric shock. _

_A scream, not a scream that followed the rhythm of the children's voices... another voice, a young voice in pain, screaming. _

_The priestess felt her entire enviroment shift, though she didn't move, the sky and the land seemed to switch places for a moment, then switched back, allowing her to see the scenerio before her._

_It was darker on the other side of the hill, men were standing around in a circle, their dark heavy laugher battling with the voices of the young, and the screaming of the child._

_She felt as though she could smell the spirits in their breath from where she stood, far away. _

_They were not village men, they were outsiders, traders... They had come and disrupted her home, enstilled her anger..._

_They had woken her sense for blood._

_The child screamed again, but no one came. Talim felt her knees buckling beneath her, because she could not move, she could move to help her... _

_She fell, screaming wordlessly, the sound stolen from her voice. _

_The men kicked some more at the little pile of cloth that was the child, screaming, sobbing, bleeding. _

_The young priestess sobbed as well, watching it, her heart feeling as if torn from her body as the child was shoved to the ground by each man...touched, abused, damaged beyond repair._

_There were so many...so many of them. The priestess felt sick, a sickness blooming from hate, a feeling she had never felt before. _

_Then she saw herself, running towards the scene. She saw her much younger self, ahead of the rest of the village, sprinting. _

_She crashed into the circle of men, her blades flashing by the red light of the setting sun. _

_Blood splashed in all directions, staining the grass, drenching the ground. Her screams of anger and hate rang along with the dying whimpers of the child, the painful shouts of the men, and the softly dying tune of the young voices singing..._

_Talim closed her eyes, wanting to block out the scene, but she couldn't. She watched herself tear each man's body to shreds, her weapons moving with more agility than she had ever had during a practise. _

_They were all dead, their faces distorted by her blades. The child was laying in grass along with them, hardly breathing. The younger Talim crumbled beside her, panting from her killings, and brought her to her chest, laying her head gently on her lap, whispering words of comfort, repeating over and over that she would be okay..._

_The child cried silent tears, her throat long ripped to shreds by her constant screams. And she shook her head, smiling truthfully._

_Then she grew very still. _

_The priestess watching the entire thing began to scream as well, her own tears pouring down her face. She covered her face with her hands, trying to block out the image of the dead little girl's face, trying not to hear her own screams, her own sobs, but it was no use, she was falling, her soul cascading like water down into some dark hole where she wished she could go forever... _

_How had she, the Protector let a child be taken?_

**_You did not know. But I can help, I will tell you, I will lead you, trust me._**

_There was nothing more she could do..._

* * *

Darkness, it was everywhere, even though she had opened her eyes. It was night, deep night.

Silently, the Priestess reached up and touched her face to find her cheeks wet with tears.

Her ears were still ringing with the screams, the children singing. Sobbing softly, she buried her face in her arms, pulling her knees up to her chest.

It had been a long time since she had thought of the child... Since she had thought of her failure. No one at the village blamed her, the family of the child thanked her, for avenging the death, but Talim remembered feeling numb and unsatisfied by the burning bodies of the men.

She had been too mercifull, that was what she had thought. She had felt as though death was an escape... She had granted them the wish.

Sobbing still, the Priestess looked around slowly, trying to locate herself, but she knew not where she was. It was too dark to see. Sighing, she pushed herself up to her feet, deciding it best to move, to do something... she would continue through the night, it was probably for the best.

She stopped, suddenly realizing the extent of her movements. Looking down, she lifted her shirt up a bit to examine the bruise that should have been across her entire stomach.

However, the bruise was not there, nor was the pain. She stared at it for a long time, adding up the Goddess' interference.

Sighing, she decided to ignore it, and bent down to pick up her blades laying by her.

At least she could move, that was a blessing.

Still feeling like an emotional toranado had ripped her soul to shreds, she started away, rubbing the tears away.

The past was something that could not be changed, she would have to live with her failure, and make sure that it did not happen again...

Her thoughts were rather rudely interuptted by the shock of something long and hard connecting with her back, sending her tumbling to the ground.

She cried out sharply, doing a careful summersault onto her feet, her blades already up at the ready, however no one was there...

She looked around slowly, listening.

Her eyes flickered behind her sharply. _There._

With a cry, she spun around and blocked a blow from a staff just in time before it collided with her body.

The bruise she was probably going to gain from the earlier attack was going to be long.

Growling with anger, she shoved the attacker away, annoyed at being unable to see well enough in the dark.

"What do you want?" she snapped, taking a step back.

She could see the outline in the moonlight, twirling the staff in agile hands.

"You sound young..." was the amused reply, and by the tone of voice, it was also a man.

The priestess frowned, rather irrated by the constant drifting towards her age. However the anger evaporated as she recalled her earlier dream... and how young she had failed.

Lowering her blades she stated in a rather dull voice.

"I don't wish to fight."

"Oh? That's a surprsie, you hardly hear that around here..." the man continued, lowering the staffa bit.

Talim looked at the ground, though her ears were still well aware of where he was.

"What is it you want?" she asked again.

"I heard crying... I thought I would check it out. As it so happens, you're the only one carrying a weapon in these parts, I figured you were the aggressor... but considering by your voice-"

"I didn't hurt anyone, I was the one crying." she replied calmly, hooking her blades to her belt.

The man cocked his head, still hiding in the shadows. "Why? Are you okay?"

"I'm fine..." Talim replied sullenly, starting to walk away, biting back a comment about the bruise spreading across her back.

Footsteps confirmed her fear of chase. He suddenly came up beside her, though a little away.

"I'm curious... What are you doing all alone here? Aren't you a bit young to-"

"Look, I kept you off while you attacked, I think I can handle myself." Talim replied, her voice was calm, her words were not.

There was a soft laugh. "That's a good point... Um... may I ask your name?"

The priestess stopped and turned to look at him squarely, finally catching his face by the moonlight. He seemed relatively young, however several years older than her.

"Talim." she replied shortly, wondering what it was that he could possibly want.

He nodded. "I see... Well, my name is Killik. Uh...sorry about that blow to your back, by the way." he added, his face turning a bit red, the sheepishness in his voice obvious.

Blinking mildly, Talim stared at him, a bit confused. She didn't often have conversations with men, as a matter of fact in the village she only ever spoke briefly to anyone outside of family. Therefore, she had little expirience with them... and comparing Yung Seung and Killik... the difference between attitudes was rather tremendous.

"It's okay." she replied, though it wasn't, her back was complaining.

Killik cocked his head at her again, in that funny way he seemed to study things. "You're tough for a kid. How old are you?"

Talim sighed softly, wondering once more why he was so interested. "15. I'm fifteen..." she replied.

"Where are you going at such a young age?" he asked, leaning on his staff casually, blinking at her with curious eyes.

Talim cocked an eyebrow at him slightly. "Aren't these beginning to sound like rather personal questions?" she enquired, turning right around and heading the opposite way in hopes of loosing him.

No such luck.

He followed, laughing. "Uh... yeah. I apologize. You don't need to answer if you don't want to."

"Hence why I didn't answer then." she replied, giving him a look. He smirked. "Witty aren't you?"

"Um...no? Just...careful."

"Why were you crying?"

Talim stopped, turning to look at him in confusion again. It had been a rather odd question thrown at her out of the blue. "What?"

"You said you were crying. I'm just wondering why." he replied, explaining carefully.

She just stared at him for a moment more, wondering what she could say. Finally she replied. "I'm sorry, I don't think I want to tell you that either."

He pretended to flinch. "Aww, all right..." he mumbled, following her as she walked.

"In which direction are you going?" she asked, stopping again to look at him.

He stopped, looked around quickly and said. "Uh... that way. Why?"

She turned to the opposite direction. "Because now I know where to go. Bye!" she ran off quickly, hearing him calling out after her.

"That was less than polite!"

"Forgive me!" she shouted back, disappearing into the dark.

Killik smirked after her, still curious. She was an odd one that was for sure. Shrugging it off, he turned and started the way he was actually supposed to be going. He'd bump into her again for sure... after all, she did carry a shard, he had seen it...

* * *

Sacharja: Thank you for your review and your advice, I appreciate it. Um, as for the action. I'm not so sure... I'm intending the story to be more of a drama than an action flick, and my style, though far from set is generally calm... Though, be assured, if I start with an action sequence it usually lasts about 10 pages... on my original stories anyway.

I didn't know that Raphael was insane, actually, so thanks for the heads up. I'll see how I'll work with an insane character...all my insane ones tend to lean towards the bad side, so this will be a learning expirience.

Um, about me writing 2 fics, max. Hehe, right now I am writing a grand total of about 12 stories all at once, counting the ones my friends ask me to write, my original stories and my fanfics... I just have this thing where if i concentrate on one story for too long, the creativeness of it dries up and I don't finish, so I kinda can't just work on two. I had it that way at the beginning of my fanfictions and as a result one of my fics died, so... yeah. I kinda cant do that...

Anyway, thanks for the review, I love to get advice, please keep sending it in.

Fire Team Torch: You know, aftter another reviewer suggested that I get them together in the fic, the story went the opposite way. i actually had it in mind that they might actually get all mushy sooner or later, but by the looks of it, they dun seem to wanna. Oh well, can't be helped, lol. But knowing my writing, sooner or later soemthing of the sort might end up happening. Thank ya for the review!

-White Scribe


	9. Civilized Jungle

_Civilized Jungle_

Talim froze at the sudden break of sun light that seemed to appear out of nowhere.

The way she had taken from the heart of the forest turned out to be the right way, or at least so said the Goddess and the shard... the frightening part had been that the darkness was thick enough to nearly touch.

For most of the night Talim had struggled through thick rather dangerous grounds, blind to everything but too scared to stop. It was a stupid fear, or so she felt, but it was strong enough to keep her going straight through the night.

However, now, she burst through the last of the vines that barricaded her into the forest and froze, feeling her pupils shrink so forcefully that it hurt.

The light that exploded across her face was warm and light, glittering along with the dew that covered the road and the grasses waving along on the sides of it.

It was a simple dirt road, however, as she looked on she saw to her surprise a huge wall that seemed to cut it off, with gates made of metal.

Across the top walked warriors wearing full armour and carrying bows and arrows, along with katana blades strapped to their waists.

Grunting slightly, she shoved through the greenery onto the road, her muscles still complaining at the movement.

She blinked up at the warriors, rather amused by the fact that they hadn't realized she was right there, standing on the middle of the road... She truly hoped these weren't the watchers that the city or village seemed to depend on...

The thought had hardly formed when she saw beyond the gate, and much higher up buildings towering high, made of stone and wood, reaching towards the sky.

The bell in the distance began to ring, the flag on the pole above it swinging with the first breeze.

Talim let out a sigh of surprise, having never seen a place the size of this city.

There were temples and houses made not of wood like at home but of heavy stone and thatched with twigs and wood. And far far back, as if it were the backdrop to the enough scene stood what looked like a castle, it's gates made of a dark color, the tips sharp, she could tell even from a distance that climbing that gate would mean death...

"Oh..." she sighed, her voice tiny.

That was enough to make the walking warrior closest to her turn sharply, his bow and arrow aimed at her in the time it took her to look in his direction, blinking in mild surprise.

"Who are you stranger and what is your buisness!" he shouted, one eye closed as he held the bow up, aiming with care.

Talim frowned, but lifted her hands up slowly, away from the glittering dangling blades at her waist.

The other men on the wall ran towards her side of the wall, looking on at her with laughter.

"Give it up, she's just a girl, and a young one at that, you're paranoid." the soldiers laughed, waving their hands with nervous laughter.

The other warrior however did not lower the bow, his eyes flickering to his comrades with anger.

"Do you not remember the last woman with a weapon that came through here? The assasination on Lord Surkoi was almost completed. I'm not getting blamed for the death of a noble." He snapped.

Talim blinked a bit, surprised by the information he was giving. A woman had tried to assinate the lord of the city? She cocked her head. That was strange... what could one gain from that?

"Um...excuse me?" Talim began.

The focus turned sharply towards her, making her jump slightly with the intensity of all the stares, most of which had once more turned to suspicious glares.

"I... don't even know where I am." she admitted, holding her hands up higher, away from the blades.

The soldiers blinked down at her thoughtfully.

"Why is it you carry blades?" the one holding the arrow snapped, still not letting it drop. Young she might be, that didn't mean she could be some sort of sorceress like the other assasin.

"Uh... I'm aPriestess... My people tought me how to use it for...my defense." she said, wondering why that felt a little like a lie.

The soldier blinked and lowered the bow suddenly, earning himself confused stares by the other men.

"What are you doing?" one asked, the snap obvious.

"I know of the wind dancers... She's a bit young to be one travelling alone, but the blades do look of their kind." he stated, putting the arrow back in place.

"Are you planning on entering, Priestess?' He asked, leaning idly on the wall. She blinked steadily at him, wondering briefly if she did indeed plan to enter.

"I suppose so... I haven't been in a city befo-" she started, then decided. "I haven't been in a city lately..."

"All right then. Open the gate!" The soldier shouted, waving a hand at someone down on the other side.

The metal gate began to open slowly, allowing her passage. Talim cautiously made her way inside, nodding her thanks at the soldier, before turning to inspect the new enviroment she had suddenly found herself in.

As she walked away, the soldier smirked. "Cute thing, isn't she?"

His comrades grumbled to themselves about sweet talking and treachery and went back to their buisiness in silence.

* * *

The way people moved around the city was hurried and matter of fact, making her side step out of the way several times as old ladies and children ran or walked around her, grumbling at her dreamer's steps. 

She started for the fourth time in the last ten minutes as a child shoved her from behind.

"Away, away!" was the only answer the child gave as she ran away, chased by older kids.

Talim cocked an eyebrow slightly, wondering where manners went once she entered the city.

Sighing, she started towards what she figured was the center of the great place, walking on the cobble stone streets, looking around in well hidden awe at the great buildings.

She actually dared to enter one or two of them to inspect them from inside, finding to her shock that they were as impressive and sophisticated within as they were outside, making her hurt her neck slightly as she looked up towards the great designs upon the roof.

_Whoever thought to put art up on a ceiling wasn't thinking for the pleasure of the viewer..._She thought grumpily, rubbing her neck as she walked out of the temple.

Soon, she found herself at what looked like a market. People had set up stalls and cloths on the ground, blocking the way of carts and the street was crowded and loud with merchants yelling out their deals, women talking loudly, musicians playing for money, children laughing, dogs barking...

Talim wrinkled her nose at the scene, her brows furrowed with distaste. Roughly, she felt someone grab her blades and spun around sharply, automatically bringing her elbow up with a cryto connect with their neck.

To her surprise she found her arm pulled sharply backwards, throwing her off balance and into a perfect position for choking, however she wasn't going down that easy.

With agrunt she entwined her leg with the attacker's and pulled, sending whomever it was downwards. She spun around sharply, her blades up and at the ready only to find herself looking down at a laughing Killik, sprawled on the ground with little kids running around him laughing and dogs yapping in their direction.

"I probably could accuse you of being paranoid right about now..." he said, shoving himself up.

Talim lowered her blades, frowning slightly. "Well, it's not exactly polite for you to grab someone else's weapons without even telling them you're there." she sniffed, strapping her blades back onto her belt.

Killik smirked. "Then again, running off isn't all too polite either."

The priestess blinked and found herself smiling weakly. "Sorry about that..."

"Uh huh." he said, dusting himself off. She shrugged sheepishly, dodging running kids anda man rolling a cart dangerously towards her, grumbling about brutality.

Another quiet laugh drew her attention back to the young man before her. "You haven't been in a city before have you." he more stated than asked.

She frowned at him slightly. "Well...actually-"

"I'll take that as a no." he interuptted, taking her arm and pulling her out of the way sharply of a pair of passing horses.

She sighed. "Why is it so bloody crowded." she grumbled, glaring at them.

He smirked. "It's called a city, the general definition is small, grand and yet oh so crowded."

Seeing her huff slightly, he smirked and tugged at her sleeve. "Come on, there are quieter areas." he said.

* * *

(A/N: Just thought I'd inform you guys reading that for some bloody reason my computer decided to close the window on me when I was continuing this update on the net and it took with it four pages worth of my writing...((is really really really ticked off)) Therefore I will have to rewrite four pages of interaction between the two characters. If i know my writing at all i can tell you this is going to suck, because I simply do not know how to rewrite something, so... forgive this bit of junk i have to post. I'll try my best.)

* * *

Killik turned away and began to walk, as if leading her to said places. Talim blinked after him, unsure of whether or not to follow. She had been tought long ago to trust everyone with a wary sort of distance until they proved themselves... 

Sighing, however, she followed. As she took her first couple steps she felt a pulse at her pocket, where the shard was currently residing.

Blinking rapidly she reached down and took it in her hand, feeling it pulse again, vibrating with dangerous energy...

She froze, frowning slightly in confusion.

Killik stopped and looked over his shoulder at her, confused. "What's the problem? It looks as though you've seen a ghost-" his voice died sharply and he looked down, slipping his hand into his pocket as well.

The young Priestess winced, knowing well that a shard lay dormant there. He stood silently before her for a moment, then he said a tone much more serious than before.

"Ah. You just realized I have a shard..." He said slowly, his voice going soft and quiet.

Talim did not move, but looked on at him in silence, waiting for him to do something. She remembered the last time she had come across another shard..._"Go ahead and kill me then..." _Yung Seung's voice rang dully in her head.

"I don't want your shard, if that's what you're worried about. Is it that you want mine?' Killik asked, cutting sharply into her thoughts.

She blinked at him, surprised. Considering her last encounter she had figured he would want to take it the way Yung Seung had...

_Well... to each his own, I suppose._

"No, I don't want your shard... It's just, I had an encounter with someone else looking for them. It did not end well." she muttered sullenly.

Killik nodded, rubbing his face. "Ah, yes. I know what you mean." he nodded slowly.

"So... we're okay then?" he asked, noting her lack of movement still. The shard had seized to pulse at her side and now lay like a very vibriant annoying piece of metal in her hand... She stared down at it with dislike and nodded.

"Yes, we're okay." she finally allowed, looking back up at him and finding him studying her thoughtfully.

"Do you even know what it is you're looking for, little one?" he enquired, turning to walk again, this time not ahead of her, but beside her, down a long street, not as full as before, but filled with life no less.

She frowned slightly. "I don't understand what you mean...' she replied, then added. "Don't call me little one."

He smirked and nodded. "All right. Well... you have a shard, but of what? I'm just wondering how much you know of this thing." he added.

Talim shrugged slightly. "All I know is that I am to find the source of it and fix what is wrong." she replied, frowning at him. "I follow the path it shows me..." she closed her mouth before she mentioned anything of her Goddess, determined to keep her out of it.

Killik nodded slowly. "How long have you been traveling, on this quest anyway?"

"About a month now." Talim replied and stopped beside him as they came to a large tall building made of marble and gray stone.

"This is the inn I'm staying in." he said, opening the door for her. "I know the manager here... Icould probably get you a room if you like.' he added. Talim blinked mildly and slipped insider, looking around at all the glamour with slight dislike. She didn't fit in here at all. All the women wore graceful flowing gowns of silks and kimonos made of expensive cloths.

However, she found herself saying. "That would be great, thank you."

Killik nodded and said. "Wait here, I'll go find him... Oh and, try not to kill anything." he added with one of his playful smiles. Talim cocked an eyebrow at him, unable to resist a small smirk as he left.

"...right." she mumbled, sitting slowly on a nearby bench.

People glanced at her as they walked in and out.They all seemed to wear expensive looking clothing, their personal space smelling strongly of perfumes, over all the room smelled like a toxic cave, all the different smells were making her head spin.

She watched them from her corner, glancing right back at those that looked at her, as if daring them to keep it up.

The foyer in which she sat was made of some kind of marble look alike stone. The smoothness of it was rather startling. Pillars of stone and rouch granite stood all around, lifting up the spiraling staircase that reached upwards towards the skylight in the middle of the foyer.

At each level of the staircase were doors and doors which Talim presumed was were all the rooms were. She frowned thoughtfully and glanced at her a pouch tied along with her belt. She had quite a bit of gold in there that she still hadn't touched. Glancing down at herself she decided perhaps she needed some new clothes...

And Goddess knew, she needed a bath... a real soap and shampoo and warm water bath.

She caught sight of Killik walking towards her, talking to a short stout man. The man was balding already, though he looked rather young. He was wearing just as expensive clothing as everyone else, but his looked to be more uniform than glamour.

Together the two of them stopped in front of Talim, the man smiling his rosy cheeked ruddy grin. "Hello, hello. You must be Talim." he nodded, extending a hand out to her.

She hesitated for half a second before taking it, and to her surprise finding him kissing it.

She pulled back, though not rudely. "Oh... Um, yes." she managed, sensing Killik's amusement beside her. Her eyes flickered up to him in warning.

_I'll deal with you later..._

He blinked innocently at her quickly before saying. "Anyway, Talim this is Cornelius. He says he has a room for you already."

She smiled at Cornelius. "Thank you." she managed. He nodded feverently and said. "I must go on, Killik will show you to your room. I have some rather haughty people coming at midday, I must be off!" he cried and indeed he was off at a run.

Talim blinked after the little man, amused. "He seems like a busy little bee, doesn't he?" Killik smirked.

The Priestess nodded slowly. "Very busy."

"Come on, I'll show you to your room." he muttered, turning towards the stairs.

They walked up quietly, avoiding all contact with the nobility that seemed to be swarming about in large clusters.

Talim looked out a nearby window and gasped at the sheer size of the city... she had by some unknow luck walked right around it during the night. Killik stopped beside her and looked out as well, amused by her wide naive eyes.

"It's so big..." she murmured, staring out at all the continous rooftops and the never ending sound of people below. The trees far out waved as if saddened by the rocky sight of the city.

"Yes it is. That is because this is the city which hosts Hwangseo Palace." he explained, pointing at the huge building that Talim had seen before with the deadly gates.

She stared at it thoughtfully, cocking her head.

"And what lies there?" she asked honestly, turning to look at him. He stared. "You've never heard of Hwangseo?" he stuttered, eyes wide.

The Priestess felt color rise to her cheeks at the thought that she might have sounded very much like a child, but she only glared at him. "Would I be asking otherwise?"

"No, don't take it that way... It's just... I'm surprised, it's Hwangseo and you're a warrior- it's just-"

"I'm not a warrior." Talim snapped sharply, though she didn't mean to. Killik blinked in surprise... as did she.

She put a hand over her mouth slightly, as if wondering from where those words had come out of.

"Well... I saw you handling those blades pretty well twice already." he pointed out, deciding to ignore her snapping.

She stared at him a moment, trying to compose herself, before finally saying. 'I am a Wind Priestess. I protect my people, I am not a warrior..." she said it so quietly and so tiredly that though Killik was bursting with questions he said.

"Perhaps you should rest..."

Talim covered her face with her hands for a moment, thinking, trying to figure out why she had reacted so sharply at a simple statement such as being called a warrior. She nodded with her hands still up.

"All right..."

"Come." Killik said, taking her by the elbow and leading her up another flight of stairs.

Talim let him lead her along, finally feeling the fatigue washing over her from the night before.

"When was the last time you slept?" Killik asked, glancing over at her before stopping at a door.

Talim frowned at the ground, thinking about it hard. "Um..." she murmured.

He shoved a key into the door and glanced at her again. "All right, the simple fact that you're thinking about it is enough to tell me it's been too long.' he stated, giving her a look.

The girl blinked at him innocently a moment before being dragged into the room.

He closed the door and turned to look back at her, but she was busy staring about.

The room wasn't huge, but it was bigger than she had expected. There was a large window at the far wall. The walls were a soft cream color and the floor was white marble, covered near her bed with a thick rug-like thing that looked as though it came from Persia.

The bed was bigger than she had expected as well, covered with heavy comfortable looking blankets and enough pillows to drown under, the color of all the material matching a cream shade.

She blinked and said rather quietly. "I really want to sleep."

Killik laughed and tossed the key down on a nearby table. "Glad to hear it." he walked over to the window and pulled the light blinds across it, covering the room with a light shadow.

"I was just wondering, you know... if you don't know of Hawngseo... why are you here?' he asked, blinking.

Talim sat at the edge of the bed and blinked at him for a long moment. "Well.. it led me here." she said calmly, taking her blades off her belt.

"I see." was his quiet reply, then he added. "All right... I'll be back later, I guess..." he shrugged.

Talim nodded, pulling her necklace over her head before asking. "What other thing would bring me to Hawngseo, Killik?"

He stopped at the door and laughed. "I still can't believe you haven't heard ot it. This is where all warriors wish one day to fight. There are tournaments held for the Phoenix court and it so happens that today is the first day of the festival, which means warriors from all over are coming to register to fight here." he said.

Talim blinked mildly and then said. "Oh i see..."

"You win a lot of money if you make it far enough." he added, cocking his head at her. "Why don't you try signing up for it... so long as you pass the first test you'll be allowed... Despite any age issues' he said slyly.

The priestess blinked sleepily,too tired to catch that direct jab. "I'll think about it." She mumbledbefore laying down.

Killik smirked and closed the door, shaking his head slightly. She was an odd one indeed.

* * *

_Well there is the next update, hope you all liked it. I know that the timeline between her going to Hawngseo is a bit off, but that's okay, I never claimed to stick to the game timeline completely, that's very near impossible... _

_Anywho, please R&R it's what keeps me going._

_Sacharja: Lol. What i kinda do is stick to one story for about a week and then I kinda ignore it for a week and concentrate on another one. (At least for fanfics anyway.) And no worries about any misunderstandings, to each their own. ((shrugs)). Thanks for the Raphael info, even though he's not coming in till much later, this is good info to have. before I bring in him i promise to do some good researching on it. Veronica the Mischevious prolly would like that too, lol. _

_As for the meetings with characters. That's a good point... I guess I have made them rather casual.. sort off... (goes to look up casual to see if it has anything about nearly killing people) However, I made an attempt atchanging that today, I'll prolly shove Yungsung in there next chapter too, and I mentioned also another woman warrior attempting an assination, soooo, that makes almost four, with a tad more background to each one. _

_And last but not least, the plot. ((looks sheepish)) Did i ever mention that I have absolutely no plot at the moment... ? lol, i usually work with the more vague plot possible, right now I have a lack of one. In my head the whole thing is. "Get Talim to find the soul age and deafeat it. Make it interesting along the way." and so, that's what I'm working on. _

_Keep sending in the advice, it helps mold my next chapter! _

_the. WINDcharmer: Thanks for the review, and it's realistic! ((grins happily)) thanks, I'm glad you like, keep reviewing will ya?_

_FireTeam Torch: Hmm... is it really the first one? Wow... that's great, at least I'm doing something a tad more original. Thanks. Lol, I'm gonna at a bit of naive stuff in there and some innocense here and there though, cuz she is in fact the youngest of them all, however that does not make her any weaker, if anything it might make her stronger, so, i'll keep at making sure she's a realistic character, not an innocent little child taking on more than she can handle... _


	10. Prodigy Warrior

_Prodigy Warrior_

**_Wake up... wake, it's time to wake..._**

_Ugh... leave me be._

**_Shss... wake. You must wake up._**

A cold burst of air threw the curtains on the window to the sides sharply, letting in the sound of music and laughter from the dark streets of the city into the room, as well as cold slap of air that made Talim open on eye.

Her body felt so heavy, and the blankets so very warm and soft that she didn't want to get up, it would take too much effort...

However, it was undeniable that she was awake as it were already and so she pushed herself up sharply, her body complaining against each movement.

Outloud she complained, though quietly. "What? What could be so important?'

There was a knock on the door, and Killik's voice drifted through the wood to her ears.

"Talim? Are you awake?'

Irritation bloomed as the sound of merry laughter in her head and she stood, sighing. How was it that she had always had to be wrong and 'she' always had to be right?

"I'm up! You can come in!" Talim cried out softly, pulling her hair out of the messy braids.

Killik stepped inside and leaned against the door idly, not wanting to invade into her private space as soon as she had just woken. Warriors and fighters were a paranoid bunch and waking was a time when they felt the most disoriented. The last thing he needed were those elbow blades stuck in his gut because he had frightened her.

"Hello... You rested?" he asked, cocking his head.

Talim stiffled a yawn and nodded. "Yes... very well, actually. I must thank your friend Cornelius." she murmured.

Killik grinned. "Oh good, because the first test to enter the contest is in one hour."

Talim stared. "Oh... but, I don't know.." she murmured, looking out of sorts.

Killik panicked, having already raved about her to several men downstairs and the soldiers who had been wary of allowing him to sign up a 15 year old girl.

"What? What do you mean?"

"I'm not sure, if fighting in that contest is such a good idea. I'm not that great a fighter, and I haven't really-"

"But I already signed you up!" Killik cried, his panic getting the better of him. Talim stopped and stared at him.

"What? Why!"

He turned a bit red and rubbed his neck awkwardly. "I just thought it'd be a good idea, I don't know... I think you could get far, that's all." he muttered, not adding the fact that he had bet on her several times already.

Talim sighed, hearing the laughter in her head once more, it was teasing more than mocking, but irritating none the less.

_Now what do I do?_

**_Why, fight of course..._**

Disturbed by the fact that the voice was starting to earn some sort of an attitude she stood and nodded to Killik, though unhappily.

"Fine, okay. What about you? Are you fighting?"

He smirked. "Of course."

* * *

To her surprise, he had Cornelius had found out about her getting signed up for the tournament and had run around worried about his guest and what he should do and so had ordered a bath to be prepared for her, and new clothes to be found... Which she was rather surprised at. 

Two women came in and began to measure her every inch, while Killik laughed at her awed slightly confused expression from the corner.

"He's taken a liking to you. I think you remind him of his little girl..." Killik said while a maid held a band around her waist.

Talim looked down, watching them work, and then said. "Oh... I see." It was the only answer she could come up with at that moment.

He smirked and pushed off from the wall, walking over to her blades and beginning to quietly examine them. Talim's eyes flickered to him at that moment and she stared, a silent warning.

"I won't do anything." he promised. She nodded, as if she had known all along and then turned back to watching the maids fumbling with her clothes.

"They might have weapons there for you to choose from if you get high enough in the rankings." Killik said suddenly, looking up.

Talim blinked slightly and glanced back at him, feeling a bit uncomfortable with the fact that all she was wearing were her under clothes in front of him while the women went around her putting on a light blue and white outfit she had yet to see properly.

"Oh?' she managed as the maids pinned and pricked her skin.

He nodded. "By the fourth win, they give you different weapons to choose from. Though, I don't know if they will have any elbow blades, this style of weapon is rare."

Talim blinked at him a moment longer before turning back to the maids, thinking.

She had had those blades for a long time, and if she was planning on being in a tournament then perhaps she should get them to someone who could quickly fix them up a bit... They were beginning to grow dull, it took more effort for her to do real damage...

Sighing, she blinked in surprise as the women moved away suddenly, pins and needles sticking out of their mouths as the looked back on their handy work.

Talim looke down at herself and then back up at the mirror.

The style was light and the cloth breathed, making it feel almost like an egyptian silk she had bought when a trader had gone to her village a time long ago.

It was white with light blue designs. The tank top was covered by a sort of sash that fell from around her neck and down her back and front.

She cocked her head and moved lightly, feeling it shift with her form. "Huh.." she said happily, breaking into a smile.

the women gave smiling satisfied nods of their own and took their things, leaving without another word.

Killik tossed her her belt and blades.

"Looks like you're almost ready. You should eat something light before you go out there, you know." he added.

Talim wrinkled her nose and said rather unhappily. "But... I need to get these-" she started, motioning to her blades. But Killik would have none of it. If he was going to loose a bet, then it wasn't going to be because the girl had decided to faint from lack of food on stage.

"Come come, I'm sure Cornelius has something or other around here..." He interuptted, shoving her out the door.

Talim stuttered endlessly, trying to get him to listen to her, but it was no use, and within five minutes she found herself settled at a table with fruits, cheeses and breads of many kinds laying out before her.

Cornelius fluttered in through the doorway to check on her quickly. "Ah! I see the seamstress did a good job of your outfit!" he grinned, taking her in.

Talim smiled and stood, offering her his hand again, but this time taking it into a handshake.

"Thank you very much for all this, sir... I truly appreciate it-" she began, but Cornelius waved it away. "Nonesense! Don't make anything of it... You remind me of someone, that is all. And I couldn't hold back my help anyway. It's not often a young prodigy walks into my inn." he nodded.

Talim blinked. "Prodigy?'

"Why yes! Child, if you can keep off Killik, I'd say that's a prodigy." he laughed, as if she were joking.

The girl blinked in confusion, but that went unnoticed by the little man, who was already buzzing out the door.

"Eat! And I'll see you after your battle!" He called and left.

Talim sat back down, frowning as she chewed on the nearest piece of dragon fruit.

"Prodigy?' she wondered outloud. And the wind sing songy voice in her head laughed once more.

**_But of course..._**

The priestess ignored it sharply and decided she had had enough to eat. Standing sharply, she headed for the door, determined to find Killik and a swordsmith. The city seemed large enough, there must be a swordsmith around somewhere.

Killik popped up beside her suddenly, having just finished talking to Cornelius.

"Done? Excellent! Because we're late! Come!" he cried, grabbing her wrist and pulling her out the door.

Talim was beginning to get dizzy, being dragged one way and then the other without being told where she was going, nor why.

she found herself once more in the city streets, which were no longer crowded in the messy way that it had been before.

The night had come, and yet light was everywhere. Everyone was dressed in their best clothes, and the streets were heavily decorated with banners and conffetti that floated down through the playful breeze.

Music and laughter assaulted her poor ears, as did the explosions of light and color from the fireworks above.

The people were all dressed in bright colors, making her dizzy as well. Smells of all kinds, some that made her mouth water attacked her nose viciously, but she had no time to savour the merriment that seemed to be all over the place.

Killik dragged her through the crowd, which was moving to the rhythm of a lively tune from pipes and drums somewhere on the street.

"Hurry hurry! We cannot be late!" he cried, and began to sprint. Talim gasped and followed, running as fast as she could.

She dodged men carrying heavy looking bottles of spirits and women with breads, spits of cooking meat that had been setup right in the middle of the street.

The confetti kept on raining down on them, making everything fuzzy and hard to see, but Talim refused to loose sight of Killik among everything.

Panting, she found herself at the gates, the gates she had been sure would kill if they were climbed.

The palace stood enourmous before huge and unmoving to the music and laughter that surrounded it.

Killik dragged her in, past the guards, who only had to see Killik to remember that he was the one that had boasted about his young friend.

And so they stared at her as she went by, wondering if the little one really was as capable as the rumours said.

Killik dragged her a bit more, past the palace music which was playing the same tune as outside, with the drums and the flutes.

He stopped in fron of a huge man holding up what looked like a giant scroll.

"Talim and Killik." He said.

The man scanned the list and said. "You need a more elaborate name, orders of his majesty the emperor." he added.

Killik blinked. "Right..." he said rather disturbed. Talim blinked, trying to think of one quickly, it seemed they were the last people to sign in, she had to come up with something fast...

_**Wind Dancer...**_

_Wind Dancer- but..._

**_Quickly!_**

"Uh... Wind Dancer." Talim stuttered out. The giant man blinked at her past his bushy brows and beard. "Good enough, go on, you're the youngest therefore you are first up." he said, shoving her.

Killik lost his grip on her wrist. "But- Killik!" she cried, giving him a worried look as she was taken by the crowd moving in to see the stage.

He waved at her. "You'll be fine!"

Talim frowned worriedly and turned, not bothering to fight the surge of people. Another man caught sight of her and pointed. "You! With the blades? Are you a fighter?" he asked, grabbing her by the arm and pulling.

Talim frowned and pulled out of his grip. "Yes." she muttered.

"What's the name?' he asked, scanning another scroll. "Talim... Wind Dancer." she muttered.

"Oh, the prodigy." he said, making her blink. "You're up first. Go up those stairs, someone will tell you where to go from there." he said, stepping out of the way of a stairway.

Talim blinked, but was shoved rather rudely into the dark staircase.

Grumbling, she made her way upwards and stopped suddenly, seeing light.

She was high above a stadium looking place, with a circular arena at the center. Hundreds of seats were arched up looking down on the center arean, filled with people talking and laughing, all of them nobles by the look of it. She could see the decorated place where his majesty would probably sit.

A young man came up beside her, blinking at her in surprise. "You're fighting?' he asked in shock. The girl started and nodded. "Yes..."

"Okay..." he said, as if he wasn't sure that was a good idea. Then he continued to say. "Bow to his majesty when he greets you. Bow to your opponent, the emperor will countdown from three from his seat and then the battle will start. you are disqualified if you are killed, thrown off the age or unable to fight any longer. There are no rules other than that, understood?"

Talim was confused. Killed? Had he said killed?

The young man nodded towards the place where the emperor would be soon. "As soon as he steps up the music will end. Make your way to the arena on that plank over there." he said, pointing to the thin bridge that was the only connetion to the arena. It was just a stub of rock in the middle of a lot of water. The stadium faced outwards towards the sea beacuse it was in a sort of huge cave. Beyond, Talim could see the hills and mountains surrounding the city... and the moon.

She sighed. "All right." she murmured. And then the music stopped.

A figure came up to where the young man had pointed. It was a sort of balcony on th estadium, shadowed by coverings on all sides. She could hardly see the supposed emperor. He was surrounded by people, servants, soldiers and advisors.

"Go." the young man said, giving her a push.

As soon as the stadium crowd got a look of her they began to scream and shout, Talim could almost feel how hoarse their voices must be getting.

She listening to the utter shouting, she carefully made her way on the curve like edge of the stadium seats, ignoring the jeers and calling from the people sitting right beside where she had to walk.

She made it to the plank in time and looked up to see the young man nodd at her. Silently, she crossed it and made it safely to the arena, swallowing her fear.

Everyone was looking down at her, laughing, screaming with excitement. This was their entertainment, to see her squirm...

_This isn't such a good idea..._

**_Trust me._**

The emperor called from high above, her name, his voice was loud, so loud she heard it even from down there with all the screaming people.

"Wind Dancer!"

She turned sharply to face towards his general direction and bowed, lifting her eyes only when the crowd had gone silent.

"Best luck to you." he said. She nodded her thanks, because her voice box was not working, and stepped back to see her opponent come out.

She froze at the sight an sheer magnitude of the man... or thing that stepped out from the darkness of the staircase.

She let out a soft sigh of shock. The monster was huge, carrying a giant club in one hand. His face was distorted and gray, a mass of mush that looked hardly like a face.

(A/N: No, not an actual character.)

Taking in a frightened breath she held her place, watching as he stumbled along the plank and as it bent low under his weight. For a moment she thought it would break, but it didn't and he made it to the arena, making her feel very small indeed.

He growled at her, letting his stinking breath throw her hair back away from her face as she winced visibly.

The emperor was silent a lot longer with him than with her. After a long moment he finally said.

"Mound!"

And the creature turned to look at him, raising up his giant club. Talim stared at the thing, feeling sick... it was easily bigger than she was, made of solid rock... his arm alone was bigger than she was. How was she supposed to take the thing down?

"Good luck!" The emperor finally managed, and the creature grunted loudly in response.

Unlike with Talim, the stadium was silent, not a soul said a word.

_I am going to die..._

**_Shss... be calm. Trust me._**

Without much of a choice in the matter, Talim decided she'd go along with 'her' this time and swallowed, bowing to the creature with her heart in her throat.

It seemed to bow back, but the disgusting rotting smirk that he gave her as he did made it a little void.

From high above, she heard the count down that made her ears buzz.

"3, 2, 1..."

And the creature screamed, shattering the silence like glass, launching his massive weapon at her.

Talim gasped, frozen at the sight of the mamoth creature waving a club in her direction.

"Goddess!" she screamed, her voice higher than she ever remembered it being.

**_Trust me!_**

She had not choice.

* * *

_Cliffhanger! Haha, i will continue the battle next chapter. Ah, this was fun. _

_Please R&R!_

_- White Scribe._


	11. Making 'the' Cut

_Ahem, looks like I got a short chapter last time, eh? ((blinks mildly)) that was one of my medium sized as it so happens... but no worries. _

_Sacharja: I thought yeah, that it was a tad boring, which is another reason why i decided to leave it on cliff hanger ending. But, hey, all stories have a point in time where all they do is explain and have interaction between characters. ((shrug)) couldn't be helped, that's what came up, it's messy yeah, but most of my stuff is. As for the goddess developement. Yeah it's changed, glad you noticed, not so much mystery, that was on purpose, it'll be explained later. Last chapter was an intended shove in the storyteller direction, it'll make more sense as it goes along. _

_the. WINDcharmer: Yeah, Killik is a bit OC, lol, but hey, I needed someone to lighten the mood, and I think he's a nice guy for the most part by the sound of his story and good intentions. Everyone must love him! XD anywho...yeah, on with the story. _

* * *

_Making 'the' Cut_

Her brain didn't have the time to actually register that she had moved, but she did. With a cry and a grunt she threw herself to the side, her body moving fluidly, rolling into a crouch on the man's other side.

The crowd was roaring, screaming and waving banners in the air. They were a huge ocean of movement and color, making her eyes widen in order to acquire all the information she needed to make the image clear.

And in front of the ocean of moving people stood the mass of rippling muscle that was her opponent.

Roaring, he turned, hauling the massive club behind him, raising it in the air to throw in her direction again.

Gasping, she side stepped again, feeling the ground below her move sharply as the force of his club hit the rock, shattering it to pieces.

"Oh Goddess." she whispered, breathless, stepping back more. In comparison to the beast, she was but an insect, a small spider that he could squish with that giant club.

Panic was starting to naw at her mind, making her senses feel sluggish and dense. Everything was overpowering her, and she felt her breathing begin to speed up...

_I can't do this... I can't I just can't fight him...he's so much more powerful... I can't..._

And suddenly she was crying, her tears like that of the child she had not been for a very long time.

How, how had she ended up there, fighting for something that did not matter. She wasn't saving a life, and she wasn't defending her own... she couldn't do this, couldn't fight him-

The thought was sharply cut short as the man waved his club again, roaring, making the air hiss and swerve as his giant body manuvered on the tiny island of rock.

With a weak scream, she threw herself awkwardly to the side, landed harshly on her side, her shoulder connecting with the rock and stone that he had shattered before. Pain shot up past her skin to burn at her neck and head.

Groaning, she pushed herself onto her stomach, wincing, and then she saw the club crashing down again, high above her.

With a gasp she rolled out of the way, feeling the pull of air that the club had created as it narrowly missed her.

**_He will kill you without hesitating. You have to fight._**

_No, I can't. This is pointless, immorale... I shouldn't have entered this contest in the first place-_

**_It is much too late for such thoughts. You have to fight. You need to live. _**

She was crying freely now, the tears obstructing her vision. She couldn't see him well, he was just a mass of muscle and rippling flesh in front of her, waving a large gray streak in the air, making it crash down around her...

To him she was an insect, to him she was insignificant...she was an annoying fly buzzing around his feet..worthless.

The thought sparked a flame of pride in her heart and she rubbed the tears away with the back of her hand, side stepping to miss another blow, her ears ringing from the sound of the crowd.

_Insignificant..._

**_You are anything but insignificant._**

_...I am..._

**_Wind Dancer._**

**_Dance._**

* * *

Killik gasped, watching the rock shatter under the weight of the man's giant club. Suddely, he was feeling bad, a pain in his gut indicating to him how much trouble he had caused. 

"Oh no... Talim-" he whispered, eyes widenening as she narrowly escaped yet another blow.

He turned, desperate to find an official, to tell them it was a mistake, that the little girl didn't belong in the arena. She was too small... she was so insignificant to that great mamoth.

The thought seemed to be all around, weaving in and around the crowd. They all thought she would surely die. She was so small... so, insignificant...

There was a sudden gasp of shock of the crowd, and Killik spun around, as the cry burst into awe struck screams of shock...

* * *

"No more pity." Talim whispered, rolling out of the way and onto her feet. She twirled her blades expertly and faced him once more, her eyes narrowed and controlled, her breathing had slowed, her eyes were dry and her mind was calm, blocking out all other noise, all other senses trying to damage her pride, her being... 

"No more pity" she repeated again softly.

Again the giant swung around and came down with the world shaking blow of his club, scattering rocks and marble all over the place. Talim side stepped out of the way and then jumped onto the club, running hurriedly upwards, panting, her blades held effortlessly behind her.

The giant man gasped in surprise, watching her through folds of leathery putrid skin that covered his face.

Two quick steps and she stood on his shoulder, the size of a parrot for most people.

A silver flash of her blades spinning was all that there was time to see, even if you didn't blink, and then blood.

It splashed and spun out as she cut his main vein and the heart still pumping rapidly squirted his life liquid out into the open air for all to see.

His scream made her ear drums throb, but she ignored the pain, grunting softly as she swiveled and elbowed him in the eye hard, not with her blade. She still hoped he would live, there was no point in killing something...

He cried out again, grabbing at her with his hands, his club forgotten.

A fierce growl escaped her throat and she sliced forcefully at his fingers as they tried to grab her, making him draw away. Again she elbowed his eye, harder.

He cried out and stumbled backwards, taking two steps dangerously close to the edge.

Gasping, Talim escaped his grasp again, climbing to the back of his neck. Blades in hands, she struck down right at the base.

Blood was everywhere, all over her hands, her blades, her clothes, pumping out of his body steadily. He was screaming without bothering to breathe, in pain and too dazed to care for pride...

Unsteadily he took one last step back and lost his balance, falling backwards over the edge of the arena.

Gasping, Talim had two seconds to grab her blades and pull them out of his flesh, climbing over his neck and onto his chest and then running, running for all she was worth over his body and off before he fell off the arena.

Crying out softly she jumped and landed heavily on the shattered rock, rolling and then coming to a harsh stop in the debri.

A splash and a strangled watery scream confirmed that he had fallen.

Panting she sat up onto her knees, still holding on to her blades rather hard.

The breeze gently danced around her, mending bruises and cuts without the notice of the Priestess or the crowd.

_I'm okay... I'm not dead.._

**_Very good...very good..._**

It was only then that her ears finally took in all the information being forcefully stuffed into them and a headache came over her, crashing into her body like a tsunami wave.

The screams, the shrieking of shocked and yet happy viewers was so loud that the cave walls shook and echoed.

She sighed and struggled to her feet, glancing over the edge of the arena to see people helping out her opponent, healers and other medics splashing into the water to sow the wounds.

He would live.

Letting out a soft breath she hadn't realized she had been holding she turned to look up to the crowd and lifted on arm into the air, though she did not smile.

The blade she held was dripping in her opponents blood and it ran down her arm, but she did nothing to stop it, only nodded towards the crowd.

Smoothly she turned towards the emperor and bowed her respects before walking over to the plank that the stage hands were once more lowering to get off the island.

Killik was running towards her, shoving and pushing people out of the way.

"Talim! Talim!" he shouted, his face anxious. The way she moved and the way she seemed to be seeing everything and yet nothing showed how dazed she was...

He was just getting to her when she forced a smile and shook her head. "It's okay, Killik... I'm okay..."

And rather promptly she passed out.


End file.
